2020 was a whirlwind; I don’t think I have ever experienced a year with more ups and downs. Described in a word: chaos. And I think the chaos drained us, society, as people. But we have talked enough about 2020. We have heard all there is to be said: “it sucked”, “‘we’re “generation screwed’”, “COVID”, “COVID”, and “more COVID,” and “when is it going to end?”.
Well lucky us the end is in sight. The chaos may not end, but it is still a win to have survived, and also to not be living in 2020 anymore. With it being the last month of 2020, it may be a good thing to look ahead. Though there may not be crazy drastic changes once the clock hits midnight, we can refine our mindset to be entering 2021 in our best, most adaptable, true to ourselves, way possible.
In honor of moving forward, I’ve started thinking about what I want to look like. The first step in that is processing 2020. I didn’t really realize that I hadn’t done this, until coming home for Thanksgiving break. Something about being home from school for the year kinda hit me. I was bullet journaling, literally mapping out my year and what each month was like, the best and worst; once I was done, it was like ‘oh wow, that actually all happened and I haven’t acknowledged it all, in a collective manner, at all’. I don’t think before Thanksgiving break I would have been able to look at the big picture of 2020. Despite all the ‘bad’, it surprised me how much ‘good’ filled up my pages. There were a lot of individual moments that would not have happened if it weren’t for COVID-19, and I’m now holding those moments close. We didn’t get to finish our semesters or sports season, these long processes and commitments, instead, we had to drop many things spur of the moment that were habitual, and considered stable patterns for us. But leaving our routines in Vermont left space for a lot of the year to be filled in a different way than that steady routine. Looking back, our lives this past year have been made up of fleeting moments: little moments of good. That’s what we sought every day from March to May, just a little bit of sunshine to keep us sane. These moments, and the love, and lessons, and connections that they brought are the things I want to bring with me into 2021. Of course, there is plenty that I want to leave behind (two quarantines at school, the headache that was March? yep), but there has been good too, and these takeaways are the basis for what my 2021 is going to look like (quick idea: start a ‘saved’ folder on Instagram for this, it’s like an electronic vision board. Currently filling mine with everything in regards to my 2021 mindset: year of manifesting!!).
On a serious note though, 2020 taught us all a lot of bigggg lessons, the biggest for me being accepting what I can’t control. It seems as though I, like many, have been reflecting on this all year, and something I found is that “acceptance” is close to being synonymous with “letting go.” I want to process 2020, and part of that is accepting it, which means that I need to let go of 2020. It was a shit year: that is beyond us, so let’s all definitely try to let go of it.
I know for me, 2020 seemed to rock my world with one hit after another. After so many hits in a row, you learn quickly to roll with punches. If time’s moving fast, so am I. No time to be caught up on what could’ve been or should’ve been. One of my favorite influencers on Instagram @shutthekaleup summarized my mid-year mood well: “…I feel like I lost my vibe. I don’t want it back, I’m looking for a new one.” Right on, sis, that’s how I’m trying to play 2021. Let’s move forward. Take the lessons, remember the moments, maybe try not to think of this year as hell (even if hell literally did break loose), but if 2020 was the year for slowing down, pausing, and learning, 2021 is the year for coming back to life as the revitalized people that we all are now, post quarantine two, of course. Hold your loved ones, and give yourself what you need to be your best, in all ways, because the next year awaits. 2020 may be over, but 2021 is on its way; good or bad, there’s more to come.