You may be surprised to learn (but hopefully you won’t be), that at the start of the year we thoughtfully planned out the content we want to share with you, including inspirational, heartfelt, hysterical, and relatable stories of female friendship.
So when 2020 began, it was completely natural to look ahead and make the decision to dedicate the month of December to “Reflections and Beginnings.” We all tend to do that at year end anyway, right? We look back on the good times, the bad times, the laughs, the tears, and the memories we made. And, hopefully, we also congratulate ourselves for the challenges we overcame, and how we came through it being a better person and more thoughtful friend.
And now, here we are at the end of 2020.
What’s that you’re saying?
You want to WHAT? Reflect? On this sad mess of a year? No thank you!
We know we could have changed a look at “Reflections and Beginnings.” This year, and everything about it, is the proverbial elephant in the room. We’ve experienced the anxiety-producing deliberation over whether or not to travel and visit family for the holidays. And the ever-changing guidelines and restrictions that limit where we can go and what we can enjoy. And, now, we face the upheaval to every holiday tradition we’ve ever known, a time of year we truly hoped would be business as usual by now. And, in spite of it all, we still think reflecting is something helpful to do.
You’ve gotten this far; you just might have shown more grit and resilience than you thought.
Now that we’re in the holiday season, there are ways to fill some voids that the pandemic is creating. But it will, in all likelihood, require that each of us take moment, look within ourselves and tap into the compassion and care we have for others who may have been in challenging situations even before the pandemic disrupted life as we knew it.
Our friends at HealthyChildren.org (affiliated with the American Academy of Pediatrics) provide some insights and realistic advice to Keep the Holidays Happy During COVID-19. Whether or not you have young people in your life, this article provides reminders of the wide-ranging impacts of the pandemic that you might recognize in your community, among neighbors, friends, family members and, perhaps, your own personal situation. The article also reminds us there are ways to find joy this holiday season, and shares some tips to stay chill this holiday season.
A year from now when we stop to reflect on 2021, we might find that some of the mindsets we form now to cope and adapt, and the actions to benefit others that result from them, might actually become part of new traditions. It could happen!
We wish you a holiday season that brings you joy, and that you revel in small gestures, or acts of kindness, that you receive or give to others. We also wish you a truly happy, and healthy, new year.
Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash
