A new year has begun, and everyone is so excited about it. Yes, 2020 was a challenging year for many of us, but we have to recognize some silver linings. I normally like to focus on the positive rather than on the negative. I’m not one to complain all the time, but I try to find solutions and enjoy the moment. If it is a bad moment, I try to learn from it and think about the purpose or the impact that experience will have in my future. If it is a positive moment, I savor it and remind myself how much I am enjoying it.
With that in mind, I think there are 5 things (if not more) that I will keep from 2020.
1. Enjoy the moment. Yes, I’ve said that already but for real. If we learned something from 2020 is that we don’t know what will happen next. We don’t know how much time we have left with family or friends, so if we have the chance to hug them tight, kiss them, and tell them how much they mean to us, then DO IT!
2. Slow down. I enjoyed how life slowed down because we had to. No more being a taxi-mom picking up one kid to the other and taking them here or there and rushing them through life. We allowed them to be kids, to paint, to play, to be silly. We allowed them to enjoy a year of their childhood. At least I did. I loved how they haven’t had homework, how they can only do one or two extra activities a week because all the other things that used to pack their week schedule are closed or going online.
3. Being mindful. People have turned to mindfulness and intentionality in their lives. We have looked for something higher than ourselves and turned to it. Whether that is faith for some, creativity, or exercise for others, we have looked for something else that helps us cope with life. I want to keep that. I want to keep being mindful of my time management and my priorities.
4. Gratitude. People talked so much about gratitude this year because maybe we watched how other people were struggling, and we realized how blessed we were. We were truly able to count our blessings as little or as many as they were.
5. Community. When I moved to the USA, I noticed how people were more focused on themselves than on their neighbors or people in their community. Yes, people here do a lot of charity work and donations, but this year we turned to see the people who lived next to us or in our towns and villages and did so many things to make each other happy. We did street scavenger hunts on holidays, my neighbors and I had a “quarantine elf” who brought treats to the kids, moms, and dads now and then. We had movie drive-thrus, birthday car parades, and people decorated this past holiday season much more than last year to bring happiness and cheer to other families around. I want to keep that.
