Moving into 2021

 

www.psci.com

It is the last day of 2020.  I wrote a bit about that yesterday.  It is also my daughter, Armené’s birthday.  As she is in California, we will rely on FaceTime to wish her well and sing happy birthday.  Hopefully we can be with her and her family a year from now.

A lot of us are placing a great amount of hope on 2021, the new year, being a great improvement over the one that is just finishing up.  It is hard to blame any of us for thinking this way. 

I had intended to write this post about the post I penned with the start of this year, 2020.  I meant to write that post on January 1, 2020.  While, I did indeed start writing it on January 1, I did not finish it that day.  It wasn’t until January 4^th that I actually posted it.  I titled it, The Dawn of a New Year and Decade.

Honestly, I had not read it for several months.  Somehow, I was under the impression that I was being optimistic about the dawn of 2020 and was going to write about how wrong I was and that the lessons learned from the challenges and dangers of 2020 were really to prioritize what was important in our lives and appreciate those people and simple pleasures. 

I read the piece and simultaneously felt foolish and was pleasantly surprised.  I basically made the point back then that I had intended to make today.  Well, so much knowing my own writing and so much for my memory.  Heck, I barely remember what I posted earlier this month. 

The message, however, is still one that many of us should heed.

The sacrifices we made in 2020 shouldn’t propel us to Another Roaring Twenties.  I tried to use the time for reflection and self-improvement.  First, I feel quite fortunate to be able to work from home and thus be in a financial condition where I had the time to self-reflect and improve.  Secondly, while we all struggled with the stay at home and social distancing orders, it is nothing to obsess and get depressed about.  It is the hand we have been dealt and we need to it for both our own health and well-being and that of others.  Not everyone sees it this way.  I know a number of folks who either are constantly lamenting a lifestyle on hold, or they are doing whatever they want in defiance of the protocols.  This is not to say that I haven’t had my ups and downs during the pandemic.  The few days before Christmas were as low as I felt this most interesting year.  But my mood improved by the FaceTime and Zoom enabled gatherings on Christmas Day. 

It truly is our choice on how to react to the restrictions under which we are living.  We can make ourselves anxious and upset about it all, or we can go with the flow and appreciate what we can do.  We can improve the bonds of love and friendship, in this time when we all need such the most.  As stated above, we can appreciate the simpler pleasure, revive old hobbies, or begin new ones.  It is not for me to tell you what to do but mores so for each person to decide for themselves. 

It seems that the pandemic and the protocols will last several months into this new year.  Furthermore, this is the time when we set resolutions.  While in most years this can be a futile exercise, it doesn’t need to be so, and probably shouldn’t be so, in these troubled times.  I will give it a more serious effort this year.

In May, I wrote a very hopeful piece that was a hope than a Promise of Utopia.  While the pandemic probably won't push us closer to a utopia, we can aspire and move our own lives in that general direction.

A most happy, healthy, and prosperous 2021 to everyone.