I’ve Decided to Make 2020 One of My Favorite Years and Here’s Why
It’s time to change how I view the past
“You change your valley into a peak when you find and use the good that is hidden in the bad time.”
— Peaks and Valleys by Spencer Johnson
This year has been tough for everyone. Going into 2021, all people talk about is how 2020 was the worst year. Everyone except for one patient who changed my entire worldview. She told me that 2020 has taught her more about herself than any other year in her life.
This was the first time I heard something positive about 2020.
It immediately reminded me of two books I came across this year.
- Peaks and Valleys by Spencer Johnson
- Personality Isn’t Permanent by Benjamin Hardy
While both books are impactful, my mind is often on Personality Isn’t Permanent. The author presents the thesis that our past can change based on how we view our future self. In this article, I want to go over some hardships of this year and how I am changing my mindset about them to improve my future self.
I purchased a travel trailer then everything shut down
My wife and I were moving every 3–6 months for work and grew tired of packing and unpacking, so we purchased a travel trailer. We had aspirations of taking weekend trips and exploring California in our new portable home. With COVID, everything shut down and the market for travel positions tanked. We drove the travel trailer to Bakersfield back in July and have not moved it since.
Living in a travel trailer is affordable and helped my relationship grow with my wife
On the plus side, I haven’t had to spend hours searching for housing. I’ve saved a lot of money on rent by living full time in the trailer. In addition, it has caused my wife and I to grow closer and navigate how to live in such a small environment and not get absolutely sick of each other. To read more about our travel trailer experience, you can read a prior article I wrote below.
I had a COVID wedding
My wedding was during COVID and caused a tremendous amount of stress. There was constantly the looming thought that the wedding was going to be cancelled. With our occupation as travel physical therapists, rescheduling and predicting our future schedule was going to be nearly impossible. We ended up having to scramble and cut our guest list down from 250 to 50 people.
Our communication improved drastically because of it
There were many fights, tears, and stressful breakdowns in the months before the wedding. I wouldn’t change it though because our communication improved more in that two-month period than in the 4 years prior. We learned that there are not always win-win options, and it is more of choosing what battles we are willing to win and lose.
Also, the wedding ended up being better than we could have imagined. It was smaller than intended, which provided us more time to spend with family members and friends at the wedding. We were sad not everyone could show up, but also happy that we could still celebrate and spend more time with those in attendance.
I couldn’t find work
After our last travel contracts ended, my wife took the first job available and we moved to Bakersfield, California. This meant I was unemployed for a month in California, where everything was shut down, it was 107 degrees outside, and our RV AC unit couldn’t cool down the RV below 85 degrees.
This was without a doubt one of the toughest times for me. We do not have kids, so thankfully living off one income was relatively easy, but sitting in the RV all day without an option to go anywhere was one of my darkest times.
I found a new hobby during this free time
An abundance of free time forced me to come up with ways to make money, which led to me creating a physical therapy website. This website hasn’t made money, on the contrary it has cost money, but it was my first attempt at writing. Without creating the website, I would’ve never heard of Medium. It started a new hobby that I never would have guessed I enjoy… writing. This has been one of my biggest blessings this year.
Key Takeaway
We learn the most about ourselves in the valleys of life. I think 2020 kicked me out of autopilot mode and forced me to dive deeper into who I want to become and what I want to value in life. It was the ultimate gratitude test. When the world seems like it’s ending, can I find something to be grateful about?
This has been a hard year, but one of the best of my life.
