In January 2020, almost overnight the Amazon forest caught fire (burned by one of the largest fires in decades)! And this was just the first news of a year that seemed more like a rollercoaster of unpredictable events and emotions. Racial protests, fires, earthquakes, a global pandemic we are still struggling with, school closures, local parliamentary elections, Trump’s “fall” and, above all, mass layoffs as a prerogative of the worldwide financial and political crisis. What could we really do during this tornado? Nothing.
In fact, not really, if we remember all the meetings but also the parties we organized on Zoom, the online courses for personal development, the countless banana bread recipes, the whole days spent at home with the children, the plays watched on Facebook and the museums in the US that we were able to visit for the first time in our lives, our new hobbies such as crocheting or playing the noble sport of chi gong… Remember what it was like to go to the supermarket before Covid-19, or how – at the beginning of the pandemic – people ran among the districts with toilet paper and flour? What a crazy race this year was!
Business people have had to reinvent themselves or even give up some of their dreams. Everything moved, so fast that we couldn’t even understand what was happening to us, in the virtual environment. An amalgam of emotions, fears, questions, more and more creative solutions. We could write a book that would bring together, naturally and without too many conventions, all literary genres from drama to pamphlet. How inspired Agatha Christi would have been by 2020! Policeman, adventure or social documentary, whatever the novel of each of us would show now at the end of this year, one thing is certain: we all had something to learn and, moreover, we were all forced to return to ourselves, find out in the impossibility of decisively impacting the external environment.
In other words, it’s that time of year that we usually dedicate to resolutions, after we draw an accounting T to see where we are on the minus and where we came out on the plus. It’s just that, this time, the white paper gives you a certain feeling of fear, doesn’t it? Even in the past years we did not tick everything we set out to do, but at least we had the freedom to create great dreams. This time, we can no longer have the slightly naive confidence of yesteryear and, in addition, we feel additional pressure because we already have a list of all the goals that did not turn into reality in 2020 and a few other new wishes besides. Everything, with a big question mark. This transition to the new year can be really anxious, but the coronavirus pandemic has taught us perhaps the most precious lesson: we don’t always get where we want to go, but we certainly get where we need to be, paraphrasing Douglas Adams. And the healthiest way to propose resolutions is even the politics of small steps: a small goal, a great achievement. First of all, let us think, gently about ourselves and our own people, if and when is it the time for a change and what are the first steps we can take, honestly speaking? And let’s do those, creating a new path for us. The lesson of adaptability and lucidity will help us in the long run to be much happier and more at peace with our lives. We may be more productive when we think and build in small terms. After all, the Universe is created from details, and the great changes come against the background of almost insignificant elements.
No one expected the year we were just saying goodbye to look the way it did, and yet there are still a lot of lessons we will take with us for next year, and a lot of positive parts. which gave us hope and daily joys. 2021 deserves all our trust…
Change how you make resolutions:
It no longer focuses on what you did, but on how you improved your thinking and behavior.
Learn to overcome your frustrations, accept the surprises of life and have backup plans.
Assume that life is a product of trial and error.
Adjust your efforts and allow yourself to change your mind.
Stay connected with yourself to discover your own mechanisms of survival, growth, and creation.
If you were a novelist, what would be the title of your 2020 book?
Happy New Year
Dare for more// Lilia