As we approach the end of January, and the year 2020 slowly moves further away in the rear view mirror, it is easy to get excited as we think that the year we couldn't wait to end as finally done exactly that. Ended.
The year of bushfires, floods, covid, lockdowns, home schooling, job losses, job changes, working from home, travel restrictions, no sport, some sport, toilet paper shortages, presidential elections, all amongst other things is gone. In the past. Behind us. Forgotten. Time to move on. Forward. Away from any of that. Right?
WRONG. Back the truck up, we are not done with 2020 yet.
Ok. It's simple...a virus that has the ability to shut down the world, is not simply going to disappear just because the calendar changed from 31st December 2020 to 1st January 2021. Covid and associated changes are here for a bit yet, we get that and that's not what I want to discuss here and now.
I want us to still hold onto 2020 because of what we can learn from it, actually what we already have learnt from it.
2020 has changed us all in so many ways. We have become more resilient. More adaptable. Perhaps more patient. More loving. Maybe we have found a new sense of gratitude, especially for the simpler things. We have learnt (and are still learning) to adapt to change.
These are all character traits that hold us in good stead for the future if we hang onto them and continue to develop them even more. And I've only listed a few. There are plenty more that we could name. We all have grown and learnt in our own individual ways as Covid has impacted us together as a society but also individually.
Take a moment now, to sit down, and think about how you have changed and what you have learnt from the rollercoaster ride of 2020. How can you apply it to your future? And how have you already started applying it to your life (perhaps without even realizing it)?
So as we continue our journey into 2021, let us smile as we watch 2020 fade away over the horizon in the rearview mirror. Not for it is in the past, but for who it has made us become for our future.