After speaking with others, reading posts, and the many virtual gatherings I’ve had with friends and colleagues, I’ve grown to realize that, much like myself, there are many out there who feel devasted by the current circumstances; so many dreams appear to have been shattered; financial goals deferred; significant life events canceled. We’ve been forced to both mourn our losses and celebrate our lives in isolation for something that we don’t understand but greatly fear. I have learned through both humor and tears, that, on some level, we all feel as if we’re suffocating beneath the weight of this uncertainty.
Like so many of you, I believed that 2020 was “going to be my year.” This was going to be the year I made a name for myself in the Real Estate industry, the year I bought a home for my family, the year my husband and I went on our first vacation since 2018. Jude would attend his first Cubs game, visit his first water park, and go to his first music festival. I share these sentiments not to separate myself from the rest of you, but to let you know, I’m right here with you.
It’s recently dawned on me how very fleeting timelines and schedules can be and that I desperately need to change my perspective on what this year means to me, my family, to all of us really. This will not be the year we thought it would be, but that does not diminish its significance. This will be the year where our character and resilience are challenged, both as a people and as individuals. We are, quite literally, being forced to be still with who and where we are in our lives. We have nothing but time. As one of my dearest friends recently put it, “when do you ever really get this chance and how do you wanna come out? Why not emerge differently?” 2020 is now our year to reacquaint ourselves with the parts of us that have long been neglected, it’s our year to learn how to be still, to uncover the little treasures of opportunity that pop up along the way, to be more creative with our goals and ambitions than we’ve ever been in our lives.
2020 is the year I’ll finish the two children’s books I started back in 2017. 2020 is the year I will finally learn to play the piano. 2020 is the year of gratitude towards those closest to me as I begin to realize more and more the true power and grace of human connection. 2020 is the year that my husband and I come together in a challenge we’ve never been forced to face before as we collaborate on how to help get one another’s needs met in spite of our current limitations. 2020 is the year I learn how truly resourceful we can be.
Yes, I’m scared, I hate uncertainty, I can’t stand feeling powerless and, frankly, being quarantined inside a 900-square-foot apartment with an overactive 18-month-old is kind of my own version of hell, but this can still be our year. It’s not about lowering our expectations, just restructuring them.
As long as a tree lives, it grows no matter what obstacle stands in its way; when faced with a barrier, it may need to deviate from its natural course, to bend, stretch, and curve, but it never ceases to grow. Keep growing my dear friends, we’ll make it through this, sending my love to all of you.
