Don’t Forget The Lessons You’ve Learned From 2020
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ― C. S. Lewis
It’s been a long year for everyone, to say the least. I don’t have to get into the details.
Whether we like it or not, we’ve had to adapt our lives as human beings. A big change has occurred, and despite what many people have to say about it, life will not “go back to the way it was before” this year. We’re living a “new” kind of normal, and let’s be honest – it hasn’t all been negative.
Did we truly enjoy the lives that we were leading prior to 2020?
The massive level of uncertainty with which 2020 has provided us (which, in all honesty, was kind of always there – we can’t predict the future!) with an opportunity for reflection, for internal change, and ultimately for growth.
It would be a great lie to say that we experienced this whole year without learning something new, whatever it may have been.
What kind of lifestyle did we have prior to 2020: were we happy with the choices that we had been making? Were we happy with the jobs that we were working, or the courses in which we were enrolled, or the habits that we knew were wrong, but couldn’t seem to break – because, of course, we never had “the time” to do anything about it?
Even if some of us may feel as though we’ve learned nothing at all, the reality is that we’ve truly learned how uncertain reality is.
All of the timeless and cliché quotes that we’ve heard throughout our lives about “living for today” or how “we’ve only got the present” have never been more in our faces than in this past year.
“He who wants to be happy, be so: for there’s no certainty in tomorrow!” ― Lorenzo de’ Medici
Job security has become a myth. Being the “textbook” candidate in one’s job search means nothing. Events such as weddings, birthdays, graduations, family holidays – not guaranteed for anyone.
Yet we’re still here, and still pushing forward. And we’ll continue to do so, because that’s what we do as human beings.
However, it is also a very human thing to have a short-memory, to forget about the struggle when everything is “all good” again, when success (however we may define the term as individuals) has been achieved.
“Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes.” – George Santayana
This quote, along with others that could be summarized with “history repeats itself” is a node to how easily we can forget things and subsequently make the same mistakes over and over again.
I would say that, this time around, it’s imperative to not forget what we’ve been through over the course of 2020.
To not forget how easy it is for life to pull the rug out from under our feet.
To not forget how events for which we may take years planning still have zero guarantee of happening until the actual date arrives.
To not forget how essential it is to develop personal and professional skills in a number of expandable areas.
To not forget what’s important to us, and what makes us happy.
We’ve been given the time to reflect. We’ve had opportunities to learn more about ourselves, the societies within which we operate, as well as the world as a whole.
We’re still working towards seeing that light at the end of the tunnel. But when we get there, we must not forget the journey we had going through the tunnel, for that is how we truly grow as human beings.
Don’t forget the lessons you’ve learned from 2020.
