Have we ever had a year that more people wanted to escape out of than 2020? Twenty twenty. A loaded sentence. Two numbers have taken on a whole new meaning.
It was the year that nobody wanted.
Yet, we all needed.
Even though there were so many wrongs. So much pain, and heartache, and loss. Still we can feel a new found closeness, a stillness, a sense of clarity.
Somehow it feels just right. Like it had to be this way. Like we needed it this way.
I’ve had this sense for a while that collectively we were really yearning for a year like this.
A year that didn’t have us running around in never ending cycles of obligation.
From events to meetings to parties. All the activities we enjoy and are grateful for but when the calendar is filled each day with nonstop streams of events, many of us felt depleted.
So much time was wasted in traffic and in school pickup lines. Many people had little time left for their kids, their significant other, their hobbies, their junk drawer.
There were times when we wanted to decline those invitations, but the pressure from friends and family was too strong to say no. And of course the fear of missing out on something amazing is very real.
So we continued to say yes.
We committed and over committed and we put on the back burner a lot of things that were equally as important but didn’t come with the heavy social pressures.
Until Mr. 2020 Man came along and said, “You’re going to sit your butt down right here!
“You’re going to build puzzles with your kids and you’re going to try that bread recipe you’ve had saved. You’re going to clean out the garage and you’re going to paint that spare bedroom. You’re going to sleep in on the weekends and you’re not going to be a kid taxi driver right now. You going to go for walks and you’re going to see nature again. And don’t worry about your mother-in-law, she won’t be giving you a hard time for not attending your husband’s cousin’s 40th in Missouri or skipping the church cookout this year. This is your year. The one you wanted and needed and asked for. It’s going to get boring, and you’ll want to fight it, but in the end you’ll see it was the best gift of all.”
And so it’s what we did. We finally freed ourselves from many chains of obligation to create time for something new. We got clearer on what we want and more importantly, what we don’t want.
I believe this year was an incredible gift. And I also believe we asked for it.
It didn’t just happen.
It was summoned by our desire for stillness. By our longing for more time to do what we want to do instead of what we are expected to do.
As we ease into 2021, so eager for something, anything, that isn’t 2020, let’s just take one moment to remember Mr. 2020 Man for the emense gift he bestowed upon us. The gift of the time we got back.
What was your most found memory from 2020?
To a most abundant and joyful new year,
Agnes T.
Ohhh sooo true!!! I will always remember 2020 as the year my family stayed home… all together… safe from the dangers of the world. We can’t live in a bubble forever, but I will always cherish the time we have spent in our little bubble together.
It did feel a little like a cozy little bubble, didn’t it 😘