For many months, I considered 2020 to be the worst year of my life. So much that I had found, developed, and come to love was taken away from me extremely quickly and with little to no time for me to prepare for it. Some of those things have come back while others are still gone; I don’t know if all of it will ever come back. However, all the inner work I’ve done for almost five months now has given me some new perspectives. I did lose a lot but I also gained a lot, and I don’t think my greatest gains would have come without the intense pain I experienced. Here are a few things for which I’m grateful to the year 2020.
- Emotional healing. This takes the top spot on my list as it allowed me to either experience or enjoy (or both) everything else. As I’ve written about before, my success in this area came from consistently practicing surrender as described in the book Letting Go. This allowed me to heal over the course of a few months from a variety of negative emotions that I thought would plague me for the rest of my life. Now I hardly ever think about the situation behind those emotions and when I do it no longer haunts me as it once did. Using surrender on other, deeper emotions has made me much more confident and comfortable when interacting with other people, both new and old alike. It’s also improved my sleep, encouraged me to return to working on my communication book, and given me hope that I’ll be able to accomplish my big life plans. I believe this year was a necessary part of my journey and that I can now do everything I’m meant to accomplish in this life.
- Reconnecting with old friends. Several of my close friends live far away so we keep in touch through social media, texts, and the occasional phone call. As such, it’s easy for life events to keep us from interacting for extended periods of time. This year, I got back in touch with one friend with whom I hadn’t had much contact in a few years and another who has had quite a hard time this year. It was so good to pick up right where we left off and see that the time away hadn’t destroyed our friendship. Additionally, I finally met some online friends in person after knowing them for years and that was wonderful. One of many amazing unexpected surprises this year has given me.
- Making new friends. I met some new people this year who have become my friends as we’ve gotten to know each other better. Some of them I met online and others in person through swing dancing toward the beginning of the year. It’s been wonderful keeping in touch with them and growing together. I don’t make new friends easily but I’m grateful for the ones I have now and I look forward to our continuing conversations and adventures.
- Improving my communication. My communication is better now than it’s ever been. Even though I read several communication books in a row this year, I think the biggest benefit came from all the emotional work I’ve done. That has made it much easier for me to step outside my views, see things from others’ perspectives, and avoid many of the common traps that result in poor communication. I’ve also made a great deal of progress on the communication book I’m writing and I hope to have it finished before 2021 ends. I doubt I’d be doing as well as I am with any of that if I hadn’t experienced what I did this year so I’m eternally grateful for the lessons I’ve learned.