2020 is not what any of us expected it to be, as we are coming to the end of the year, it would be very easy for us to think back to all of the things that we have missed out on this year. And the loss of potentially amazing memories.

What I want to talk about here is how we can change this perspective and instead of thinking strictly negatively about the past 12 months, we can think to all of the small things that made this year great!

Have you ever seen so many people come together to accomplish a collective mission of caring for and protecting each other’s health and wellbeing, overcoming things that may have once wrongly separated us such as political/religious beliefs or income level and being socially responsible and showing empathy to everyone around us? I don’t know about you, but this pandemic has really reminded me that there hope and compassion still exists today and that hopefully when we all get this virus under control, we will care for each other far more than we did before.

Have you ever been able to spend so much time alone? Yes, this may seem lonely or boring to some extent, but in the busyness of a pre pandemic life, we can easily forget to check in on ourselves and make sure we are okay. We now hopefully have the memories of this time to remember the value of being alone when we eventually go back to a more ‘normal’ life.

Remember the family zoom calls where there was always that one person who couldn’t understand how to work their camera and how fun it was to try and watch them figure it out? Or how nice it has been to be able to sleep in and not turn on an alarm?

A lot of people have taken this time to really focus on self-improvement and have started exercising to cope with lockdowns, for them this has been a great opportunity for that to happen, if his isn’t you yet, look around you and take today as your starting point to focus on yourself to create healthy habits that you will be able to continue post-pandemic.

I will leave you with the thought of all of the times you’ve cried, I know for me it’s been a very emotionally draining experience, but I look back on those times fondly, as it reminds me that I am human and that I can grow to become a better version of myself in response to all of the obstacles and tragedies that I have had to overcome over the past few months.

So, before you write this year off, take a moment to think about ALL of the things you can take from it and with this mindset, look forward to 2021!