2020 is the year that we are living.
2020 is also what people call hindsight.
2020 has been one hell of a year and there is no way to remember it all so this is my very small attempt at gathering any sort of information and trying my hardest to remember it all.
The year started with me being full-time in my business. After 20 years, I said good-bye to my agency and I started on my own. For three years, I worked both, and I broke things. My feelings, my brain, my joy, my heart. I broke really really important things.
So I started with a few words, guides, phrases, and priorities that I needed. The year started with things like:
- Calm and bright
- Balance
- Time
- Connection
- I wanted us to have breakfast together
- I wanted to take family walks, walks alone, walks with just one of you at a time
- More time spent on my body and care
- Family games, puzzles, happy hearts
- A little girl that was now in-between
January started with me still working as an interim CEO and needing to figure that out. It started with some enlightening things that my business needed, some structure. January was the start of my body starting to let go and release. Better sleep, deeper, more baths, calmer heart. A weekly schedule the way I wanted it to look. BUT, it was also when I wasn't able to be protective of my time and I was being pulled into doing "too much".
January was also a month that in our county, our President was under impeachment. When someone reminded me of that, I thought they were lying because that felt so long ago but they were right. It was all we could talk about and learn about. It was huge news.
February was even more quiet, more calm. It was cold and slow. I was still walking and my words became:
- Slow down
- Keep walking
- Love
- Valentine's Day
- My littles, my little faces, their little big hearts
- Snow days
- Childhood
- Giggles
- The Coronavirus was starting to become a buzz word
By March, COVID-19 was a thing everywhere and to everyone. I was still walking, I was doing yoga three times a week, I was in a routine and still really really struggling with letting go. I was fighting with demons and my past. The words and phrases were now:
- COVID-19
- Dreams and heavy nightmares
- Anxiety and struggles
- Remembering who I am, what I accomplished, remembering my good
- Yoga
- Walks
- Calming puppy time
- Happy kiddos loving their new lifestyle
- Easier days and nights
- Gearing up for a busy spring and getting ready for a coaching season
In March is when schools closed for 5 weeks and we were floored. In March was the first time we did "panic shopping" and quickly realized we were not made for end of the world purchases. In March is when we felt our coziest...everyone was home, everyone was together. Hibernating in March feels so natural and wonderful. Things were hopeful, I thought by May we would all be normal again, we just needed to get through March, rebuild in April, and welcome May with open arms.
- School closure
- Distance learning
- Flatten the curve
- The world stopped spinning
- Everything is closed
- Sports stopped, all sports, everywhere, stopped.
- Restaurants are take out only and we did Friday night take out every week
- Everyone needs support
- Lay-offs and unemployment at an all-time high
- Tax deadline was extended
- Concern over my business
- Concern over our communities
- The environment started to heal...immediately
- Stay home, stay safe
- NY Strong
- Empty highways
- Empty roads
- Empty downtown
- Closed up restaurants
- Posted signs everywhere about safety
- Work from home
- House projects galore!
- Sold out toilet paper
- Sold out paper towels
- Sold out hand sanitizer
- Free resources
- Gyms closed and online workouts
- Time actually stood still...how is it still March was trending
Come April, we started to realize we were in this for a very long time. This was a long long haul and we had a lot of learning to do and things started to change daily.
- Cancelation of Anna's birthday part
- New normal
- We're in this together
- Front line workers
- Overburdened hospitals
- Finding out who we know is ill
- Praying for strangers
- Supporting family from afar
- Friday night takeout continued
- Zoom calls
- Zoom meetings
- Reconnecting differently
- Really really missing people
- Visits through windows
- More and more house projects!
- Murder hornets started to become a thing.
- Running with kiddos by my side
- More at-home workouts
- Introverts and extroverts both struggled
May, May was the beginning of exhaustion. May started to feel warmer and people wanted to stop hibernating. In May, people wanted to see people and be around people again and started to really struggle with isolation.
- It snowed in May
- Then we had a tornado
- Distance learning was implemented for the rest of the academic year
- My daughter really struggled with not being able to say good-bye to her elementary years.
- House projects were still coming and coming
- Friday night takeout continued
- More and more and more and more walks
- Really big and important talks
- Figuring out what to do during the weekends was really a struggle.
- Figuring out what day it is was a struggle
- All the cozy clothes all of the time for months and months and months
- My business started to introduce webinar training
- Social distancing and wearing masks started to become law.
- Six-feet apart
- Running with kiddos by my side
- More at-home workouts
- Can we, should we, how do we see people?
- Hibernation was over and we were tired.
- George Floyd
- Say his name
- Black lives matter
- BLM
- Protests
- Systematic racism
- Anti-racist
- Passive racist
The end of May and beginning of June, June was the start of another civil rights movement. Another black man was murdered and America responded.
Talks became even more important. It was time our family of four also learned how we were contributing to the problem and in no way being part of the solution. We all dug deeper and did more. June was important.
- Phases
- Phase 1-3 were implemented
- Phase four was discussed but no gyms
- Running with kiddos by my side
- More at-home workouts
- Friday night takeout
- Elementary graduation was tough and mama cried
- Summer vacation?
- Say Her name - Breonna Taylor
- Social media Blackout
- Black Lives Matter streets
- Marches/protests/kneeling
- Elijah McClain
- #518 Mamas for BLM
- Opening up slowly and carefully to friends and family.
- Stores and restaurants slowly starting to reopen.
- One way signs in stores
- Social distancing
- 6-feet apart
- Masks mandatory
- 2 weeks quarantine if you leave the state
- How to spend our days?
- Track will race, no spectators
It's only been three months. When we look back what will we remember? What will stand out, what will be an "oh yeah" moment? What will be good about this, what will be hard? What will heal because we stopped moving and what will change because we refused to compromise? Hindsight is 2020.
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