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As we wrote our New Year’s resolutions for 2020, we had hope for a fresh year and a new decade to achieve our goals, make memories, and have some new adventures. Well, 2020 had other plans for us! The COVID-19 pandemic erased many of those resolutions. However, by surviving these tough times and being creative, we learned new lessons about ourselves and had some personal growth as well. I personally learned from 2020 that family truly is everything to me. This includes our fur babies, too. Material things, and even jobs, are here today, gone tomorrow, but family is there for you. Things can change in a blink of an eye, so be grateful for what you have. Let’s reflect on some things that 2020 has taught us.
Learn to Love Ourselves
2020 was a year of self-love. Due to being stuck quarantining at home without seeing family and friends, we had to learn to love being in our own company. Despite no social life, changes to our work environments, income loss, weight gain, and some dark days, we learned that we are pretty amazing and resilient. A friend told me that she was shocked to learn that she didn’t need acrylic nails and her hair colored to feel beautiful.
Appreciate the Simple Things
Whether it was flowers outside our windows, birds sitting on tree branches or the funny memes on our group chats, 2020 taught us to appreciate the little things. While past years I would be jumping in the car and grabbing a coffee on the run, this year I loved to sit and watch the sun dapple through the trees by a sunny window at home while I drank my morning coffee. In 2020, these simple things became moments of joy and comfort that made many feel happy and content. Our busy lives of running from place to place were curtailed, forcing us to stay indoors for weeks and months. The reward was the opportunity to create space for ourselves and find stillness rarely afforded in our usual hustle and bustle lifestyle.
Count Our Blessings
Having a home, enough food, family and friends, and a job are giant blessings that we need to be thankful for now more than ever. Our homes became our sanctuaries and we learned to appreciate that and to take care of it even more than before. Marcie Manfredonia- Siciliano, an entrepreneur with multiple businesses and a family, told me that she learned from 2020 to “Never take things for granted as they can change in a moment.” Being able to see people, go shopping, out to eat, or to a movie are activities we will never consider “a given” anymore. With so many people suffering the loss of loved ones, out of work, losing their homes, and without enough food, counting our blessings is tantamount. Learning to help others in any way we can was a vital lesson of 2020. As we move into 2021, we must find ways to continue to help each other. Send money or food to a food bank, offer to help someone prepare a resume, support local businesses through curbside pickup, or whatever you can think of to assist others while still socially distancing.
Making Self-Care a Priority
In 2020, we learned to look after our own needs and put ourselves first in our lives. In order to support our friends and family, we need to have our own mental health in check. If we feel broken, we can be repaired. We are more resilient than we imagine. Many companies even allowed their employees to take a day off if they were not feeling up to the task. We also learned to say “no” when it was necessary. This is true progress.
Boy, Can We Multitask
With working from home, and for many, having to help homeschool children virtually at the same time, multitasking became second nature. Throw in having to prepare all our meals, upkeep the house 24/7, and deal with multiple personalities contained in a small space for days, we certainly learned coping skills. With the addition of zoom meetings, I think we all nailed how to attend a virtual meeting, get dinner going, and do chores simultaneously.
There is Always a Silver Lining
While we are in the moment, it is not always easy to spot the silver lining. But it is there. Closed schools and offices meant more time to spend at home with our loved ones. After we stopped griping about being isolated, we started mailing out cards or reaching out by phone to friends to brighten their day as well as our own. Staying home helped us save money on shopping trips, commuting, and eating out. Cooking at home gave us more time to prepare nourishing home-cooked meals and try new recipes. Losing our job became the opportunity to turn that side project into a full-time job. So many people started new businesses, home bakeries, and side-hustles, regardless of whether they had jobs or not. 2020 taught us to find the silver lining in whatever was thrown our way.
Let’s make sure to carry these lessons into 2021. When things begin to return to a more normal state, try to continue to live every day to the fullest and help each other in the process. In the words of famous jewelry designer Victoria Wieck, “There is no doubt that 2020 was full of trials and tribulations which turned our lives upside down. I made a decision to not let fear or anxiety impact my life. Happiness is a choice and I make an effort to find something to be happy about each day, which has enabled me to help others, be more curious, creative, and compassionate.”
