Life check 2020

So I am pretty sure you all will agree that 2020 has been a helluva ride. Like being on a rickety old wooden roller coaster in the dark, constantly feeling as if the whole thing will come crashing down, and you can't see the end. 

My 2020 has been like many of yours, full of disappointment, frustration, sadness, and questions. Cancelled graduations, absent funerals, moving my daughter's wedding, missed birthday parties, and the lack of social interaction that I thrive on was all missing.

Hopefully you have also seen some upside to this crazy year. Having been partially furloughed, I found myself with so much time at home this spring. My love of gardening flourished, and my yard and gardens look amazing. We finished some home projects. I went outside my box and created a 50 by 50 list Covid style to do before my 50th birthday, which happened during quarantine (that is a whole blog initself). We took time to write letters, to FaceTime friends, and to call "just to check in."

So among the challenges, we have found some victories, right?

Now we find ourselves almost to September. I, for one, thought we would be back to normal. But instead we find ourselves a nation divided. Struggling with racism, political divide, and pandemic challenges, we find ourselves intolerant of each other, having lost our sense of empathy. We see our cities in chaos, being looted and destroyed. We see people being killed and futures taken away. I see friends no longer friends. Unable to agree to disagree, unable to accept and embrace our differences, and unable to live side by side as humans. 

I, for one, am not ok with this. We are better than this. Human beings are capable of so much more. I refuse to listen to people giving up to this new normal.  I refuse to let this angry, negative society change my love for people. Call me naive, but I truly feel that people are inherently good. The evil that has divided us does not need to win. We can take it back. We can spread love instead of hate. We can help each other, and lift each other up instead of tearing each other down.  

Let's continue to build on those victories of 2020. Let's put our differences aside and try to make this place we live a better place. Instead of spewing hate, and nasty messages on social media, let's bring it back to what it can be, a place to share our lives, and celebrate them. Remember quarantine, when we rediscovered board games, and puzzles, and family time? We need to get back there.

Take time to enjoy nature if it is available to you. Take time to enjoy your friends and family. Take time, as they say, to smell the roses. If you look, really look,  this world has so much to offer. And if we focus on the positive, maybe we can make a difference. 

So I challenge all of us. As we approach the last trimester of this year we call 2020, let us all try to be the change. No matter how small. It all adds up. #bethechange

Don't let 2020 win.