It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It’s no secret that 2020 was an unprecedented year marked by grief, loss, and disconnection, so I won’t belabor that point here. I made a conscious decision when the pandemic hit in March that I was going to be fluid and flexible and focus on as much good (and create as much good) as possible. It’s that mindset that got me through some pretty challenging times.
Heading into 2020 (before covid reared its ugly head), I picked INVEST as my word of the year. Primarily, I envisioned it guiding me through my 10th year as a business owner (think big events, retreats, investments in infrastructure, etc) and I wanted to be more deliberate about investing in my retirement (difficult and not always top of mind for this self-employed person). Safe to say that any plans I had were thrown right out the window and I had to get really comfortable with letting go of any attachments to outcomes. All that aside, INVEST showed up for me in some pretty remarkable and unexpected ways.
THE MOVE:
My husband and I have had a goal in mind for well over a decade: when the kids get out of high school, we move closer to the ocean. So, to say that a move was not at all on our radar screen when the year started would be a gross understatement. But then a job opportunity opened up and it just happened to be in our dream location…so my husband threw his hat into the ring. We had less than 24 hours after they offered him the job to decide if we were willing and able to relocate. It was a resounding YES from all members of the family…and then the world shut down due to covid. My word guided me through the monumental investment of time and resources that goes along with an interstate move. The selling of our house allowed us to make a deliberate and long-overdue investment towards our retirement.
FAMILY:
Until we were all quarantined—living, working, and schooling from home full time—I didn’t realize how little we were investing in quality family time. We spent a lot of time passing the baton and operating from a “divide and conquer” state. One of my favorite parts of 2020 has been the family time and the ways in which we have invested in each other this year. Literally everything—from packing boxes to buying new furniture to summer picnics overlooking the ocean to hunting for a new puppy (unsuccessful as of yet) has been a family affair and we discovered that we make one hell of a quarantine team. When we come out on the other side of this pandemic, I want the investments into each other to continue. I have no desire to jump back into unrestrained the hustle and bustle.
THE GREATER GOOD:
One of the most troubling parts of this year has been the abject failure of our current administration and its echo chamber of racism, sexism, rugged individualism, and hypocrisy. I invested a lot of time, money, and resources into the Black Lives Matter movement and the 2020 election. I went to marches and rallies (masked and distant), donated to the Biden/Harris campaign and numerous senate races across the country. And, I invested my time into writing letters to support the democratic candidates in the Georgia runoff races for the two senate seats. I am thrilled that the adults will be taking back over in Washington in 21 days and I hope we are able to make Mitch McConnell irrelevant with a democratic sweep in Georgia. I learned a lot this year, about racism, about US history, and about the role I want to play moving forward.
MY EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL WELL-BEING:
On one of my recent Facebook posts, I gave the Unsung Hero Award of 2020 to Long Walks. Walking has played a huge role in keeping me sane this year. It’s how I’ve gotten the majority of my exercise, how I’ve connected with friends and family for socially distant mileage, and how I’ve explored my new surroundings. I invested in a FitBit and some good sneakers and I’ve walked and walked and walked. Sometimes, I take my camera with me and sometimes I listen to a great playlist. My husband has accompanied me on many of these walks and it has done wonders for our marriage, too.
ART AND MY BUSINESS:
I had to get really creative in the face of not being able to utilize my studio space or teach in-person classes in 2020. Many of my grandiose plans for the year went right out the window and I pivoted and invested my energy elsewhere. I navigated broken supply chains, increased costs and lower profits, and a completely new teaching model. I had to build new infrastructure to accommodate my shift to online-only classes. I also had the honor of teaching in Wanderlust 2020, being a guest teacher in Wellspring, and being asked to be on the Design Team for Relics & Artifacts and sandraevertson.com. I also created a special Facebook group called The Corona Chronicles and invested much of myself to teaching free weekly classes and nurturing that community. That group has been a beacon of light this year and has brought so many beautiful new creatives together—by far one of my favorite investments of the year.
2020 has been challenging and gut-wrenchingly devastating—we have all lost so much in so many ways—but I will never go on record saying it was all bad…because it wasn’t. 2020 definitely taught me so much about what I want MORE of in my life and how I plan to invest my most precious resources in the days and years to come.
P.S. For those of you who are curious about my word for 2021, it’s CONNECT!! I’ll write about that word separately. Happy New Year…stay safe, be smart, stay healthy! The worst of this pandemic is yet to come and what happens next is up to ALL of us.