It’s the last day of 2020. It feels like the world is taking a great big sigh of relief.
At this time last year, I had grand plans. A new business venture. Exciting opportunities ahead.
January was endless. Remember that? Remember feeling that it was dragging on forever?
Then February felt like it just raced by. Lots of plans that started to take shape. Looking ahead to spring break.
It was International Day of the Woman, my last public speaking event, where we loaded up with hand sanitizer and avoided handshakes. The last outing without a mask.
That weekend I stocked the pantry and made the decision to work from home, struggling with what to do about my son’s school.
A few days later, it no longer mattered. We were all home. All plans stopped.
Now, it feels like memories are split between BC and AC…Before COVID and After COVID. What was normal before, and what has become normalized the last 9 months.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but 2020 has felt like we are caught in a holding pattern. Difficult to move forward due to all the unknowns and restrictions. No way to move back, because health and safety are paramount.
It’s understandable. Absolutely. But 2020 is now over. It’s time to look forward and do what we can with what we have.
From necessity to opportunity
We will not go back to the way things were.
While the vaccine may address COVID, there’s another pandemic waiting down the road. Something else that will demonstrate why we can’t all cram into small spaces in offices. Why flexibility at work and school is necessary to meet more needs in our communities.
I for one don’t want to go back. There were any number of things that weren’t working before, but it’s the way things were.
Getting up every day, figuring out what to wear, doing hair and make up? Commuting? Arguing over homework in the evenings instead of spending time together as a family? I don’t miss any of that.
I love working remote. Given the transition to ‘work from anywhere’ and ‘hire from anywhere’ practices, I’m hopeful that’s a part of our collective future.
What else? What’s working for people and how can it be perpetuated into the future?
Different can be scary, but it can also be better.
If we look back on 2020, there’s a lot that’s been challenging, draining, and sad. Yet there was opportunity as well. We’ve made changes out of necessity, but what we if embraced them and made them work for us?
Consider leadership practices, distance learning, coping mechanisms, family interactions, hobbies… What things did we pick up this year because we had to? Which ones can we continue in 2021 because we want to?
Looking forward
A lot of time has been spent in 2020 wondering when we’d get back to normal. That’s looking back.
It’s time to look forward. Our future isn’t back there, it’s ahead of us.
Rather than lamenting about what has changed, it’s time to refocus on what we’ve gained and the possibilities ahead. 2021 is a new year, but it won’t feel like it if we bring 2020 energy into it.
Let’s carry in the energy of the possible…letting 2020 go, and embracing what 2021 can offer us.
Happy New Year.
