Silver Linings of 2020
3 positive outcomes from a challenging year
At the end of every year, I’ve made it an important personal ritual to spend time looking back, assessing the past year, as I prepare to enter into a new chapter of life. For me, the process of examining the past 12 months helps calibrate my mindset going into the next year. Perhaps it is my nature as a UX Program Manager and ScrumMaster to feel the need to conduct a yearly retrospective. I am sure my co-workers will chuckle a little reading this article and will not be surprised at all to hear about my annual “ceremony” of looking back at what went well and what could have been better. We can all agree that 2020 was like no other year we’ve ever seen. While it’s a year many people simply want to forget, it would be a mistake to put the year to rest without taking a good look at some of the positive aspects that have come out of this past year. While I cannot speak for everyone and the areas they choose to look back upon or find “positive”, I will share some of my most uplifting outcomes that I personally experienced in 2020.
Closer knit family
We all know that 2020 felt more like prison sentence than a celebratory year. So it’s no surprise that so many of us want to put the past behind us. As we all were thrown into lock down after lock down during 2020, it became obvious very quickly that we needed to figure out how to make staying at home bearable, and actually “fun”, for ourselves and our families. As a way to deal with the many ongoing lock downs during the year, our family spent many weekend nights playing board games, going online to play Kahoot and Jackbox, then of course, raiding Netflix and Apple Movies for any way to entertain ourselves. Each week, we created a family “event” that we could all look forward to and enjoy.
Also during lockdown, we parents were able to (mostly) enjoy distance learning and help teach our kids at home. While this was definitely one of the most stressful parts of 2020 for me, it also created a sense of unique bonding with my kids. I felt very connected to their schoolwork (perhaps too connected at times as I read their weekly progress reports). I was able to empathize with my kids and what they were experiencing during this pandemic. I also gained a new appreciation for my kids who became much more independent with technology. They were able to adapt to this new world and be flexible when needed. It was truly amazing to see how they just learned the new routine and got with the program very quickly. Neither one of my boys loves learning this way, but they’ve both made the best of it and it is a great lesson to learn how to make lemonade out of lemons (as the old saying goes).
As a result of all of this forced togetherness, our family has benefited by becoming much closer enjoying more quality time and intimate conversations. And for this mother, who fears the days of empty nest syndrome where kids do not want to spend time with me anymore, I can’t say it’s been a terrible year hanging out with my kids and husband more frequently.
Cleaner environment
One area that I do feel happy about as a result of people not commuting to work is the positive impact on our environment. My older son has often commented to me that he’s glad that, as a result of COVID lockdowns, the air is cleaner. He is right. Our air is cleaner. Our planet has received the benefits of a little bit of a break from all of the usual pollution that is released into the air. It’s interesting to think of an 11 year old boy thinking about the impact to our planet that he and his generation will inherit one day. These are the things he and his generation are thinking about and deem important. We should all pay attention because it matters. While it’s preferred that our planet and air quality had improved under different circumstances, the fact that we’re seeing cleaner air is still a positive outcome that has stemmed from this tragic pandemic that we are still facing as I write this article. That said, when you’re able to to remove your mask outside, take a nice fresh breath of some cleaner air while you’re out and about. It might make you feel better even if only for a minute or two.
Cherish the moment
When I entitled this section of my article “cherish the moment” I did have about 20 different commercials come into my mind that have used this cliché and are completely cheesy. I thought about changing the title. I know it’s an overused phrase, but I decided to keep it and here’s why. Because people need to still be reminded that the key to living a life free of regrets is to:
Take nothing for granted
It is so simple and yet we still take everything for granted. How many times during the lock down have you said to yourself, “I wish I had taken that trip to Europe that I’d been wanting to take because now I can’t travel” or “I wish I had gone to that restaurant I’ve always wanted to eat at, but now I can’t” or “I wish I had visited my mother last year instead of going to Hawaii”? We think about so many things during a pandemic and regrets that we have about all the things we didn’t do while we had the chance. Now that we’ve all had a good long time to think about those things, think about all the things you are going to do when this pandemic finally ends. Think about how you will cherish each moment and each person in your life, and stop taking things for granted. Life really is too short and it’s important to always remember to seize the moment and live life to the fullest as much as possible. You really only get one chance at this thing called life, so don’t waste it.
So now that I’ve done my little personal retrospective and honed in on my most valuable learnings, I challenge you to do your own retrospective of 2020. Look for three positive things you’ve learned in the past year. Hang onto those nuggets of wisdom as you enter into 2021, so you can get through those tough times that are bound to happen. No matter what, focusing on the positive will help you get the most out of your new year.
