2020, The Best Year Yet!

Let me go ahead and say it, 2020 is the best year of our lives! Now, hold on. I know what you are thinking. Is she crazy? Has she lost her mind? You see, it’s all a matter of perspective. If you stop and think, a lot of our dreams have come true this year. Thing is, we were not ready for all of them to come true at the same time and not in the way we envisioned them. Everything we are going through right now, at some point or another, was something we longed for. Here’s a list of common dreams that have become a reality in 2020:

Spend More Time With Family

I don’t know about you but I grew up hearing everywhere that people did not have enough time to spend with family because of work and other obligations. I certainly said the same thing. I always wanted to have more time with my kids. Then, boom, Covid-19 hit and we were on lock down. We finally had the opportunity to be with our loved ones… 24/7. Yeah, you might say we were forced to do so but, had it not been this way, when would we spend time with them? This was just a dream that we thought one day could become a reality. The reality is here and most of us are complaining about it. After the initial shock, I have learned to be grateful for these past seven months with my kids. Truth is I would never be able to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with my children on a daily basis had it not been for the pandemic. We have become closer than ever and we have learned so much about each other.

Work From Home

Working from home has been the dream of many all over the world. In some industries, this was never thought possible. To be able to get a company to approve one or two days from home was, to many, a long ordeal. Then, all of a sudden, here we are. Of course there are some areas this is practically impossible but even then, the impossible has now become possible. Working from home has become the norm and companies are now realizing they can save money and they can get more productivity out of their employees because of the work from home situation. Another dream come true. In the beginning, people who had never worked from home were ecstatic. A few weeks later those same people were wondering when they would be able to go back to the office. After seven months, this has become the new normal. A lot of companies have come out and declared their employees can work from home forever. Other companies are coming up with a one to two day in the office arrangements. When would this ever happen on a global scale? Personally I am grateful we were able to finally see that there are ways to get work done and the “going to the office” way is not the only way.

Learn Something New

99.9% of people have in their New Year’s resolution something along the lines of “learning something new.” This could be a language, a new skill, a new practice, you name it. With Covid-19 we were forced to learn a lot of new things. Even for those who have been struggling through all this have learned something that can be beneficial to their lives. We all have learned the concept of impermanence. Everything in life changes and sometimes faster than we can imagine. One day we were going about our lives and next thing you know, we could not get out of our own homes. Regardless of age, we all have learned the importance of the digital space. Learning to do video conference to stay connected with family, friends, work and school has been huge. In the beginning it was hard. Now, seven months later, all of us, including our children, are doing everything online. How grateful are we for the Internet now? And for businesses that never imagined doing their business online, what a change! Easy? Absolutely not. But people have learned to continue (or create) their operations online. When would this happen had it not been for this pandemic?

Take Better Care Of Our Health

Health has been at the top of the list for many of us. Many have struggled for years to eat better and exercise. With the lockdown and restaurants closing, most people could only eat a home cooked meal. This allowed a lot of us to experiment with food and find ways to improve our health. At first, because of the shock, people were overeating, over drinking, over everything. But when we realized this was going to take a while, a lot of us decided to prioritize health. People started exercising at home and because of that, they started eating better. For those who have not caught on to the health trend, they are aware that something has to change. With more time than we knew what to do with, we started going out for walks, doing workout classes online, and finding alternative ways to create a mini gym at home. Again, who would have ever thought that a pandemic could make us look more closely at our health? Even to this day, if you go a health store, anything that helps your immune system is gone. The shelves are empty. The fact that people are more conscious that to prevent a disease they need to take care of their health is simply incredible.

Connect With Ourselves

From a growth perspective, a lot of us understand the importance of knowing who we are. I am going deep here. Being with ourselves is not easy. Enjoying our own company and loving ourselves is something that most of us strive to learn. When Covid-19 hit we had no choice but to be with ourselves. A lot of us had never done this before. We were always surrounded by people, we had work, obligations, we were busy. “Busy” was a badge of honor a lot of people carried with pride. Then, when faced with our own selves… Whoa! No wonder mental health is one of the main concerns during this pandemic. The inability to live in solitude and to spend time alone has driven people to extremes, unfortunately. However, the gift in all this is that we have been given the opportunity to look within and figure out who we are. This is a process and there are many stages to this. A lot of people have finally realized they needed therapy and counseling. Others have found meditation and spiritual practices that support their growth. As a society we started looking at the collective and wondered what we can do to help our fellow human beings have better mental health. The dream of figuring out why we are here has been presented to us. Question is: how will we use this opportunity?

We all have done our best with the cards we have been dealt. Personally, this has been a year of clarity. It is no coincidence that it is 2020… A year of perfect vision. I know I will look back one day and remember all that I learned, all the time I had with my kids and how much I grew through all this. It’s my honest desire that you and your loved ones embrace this moment and learn as much as you can. May we all be healthy, happy and free from suffering and attachments.