What Will You Carry into 2021? What Will You Leave Behind?

kids piggy back riding on parents
Dec 11, 2020 | Sara Khaki

2020 Challenged All My Assumptions

We did it — we made it to the last month of 2020! What a crazy, uncertain, stressful year this has been. 2020 brought massive growing pains for everyone, including our team here at ADLG. It stretched us to our limits as parents, professionals, and human beings facing our fears, including death, illness, and losing our loved ones. I know my daily routine was impacted dramatically, and I’m sure yours was, too.

All that said, I’m a firm believer in the fact that nothing reveals a person’s strength quite like a trial by fire. Now that we’ve survived this year, we’re all better suited to move forward into 2021. This pandemic has brought out our resilience, and that’s something to celebrate! At ADLG, we always applaud change and growth because it means moving toward a healthier, stronger future. It also means leaving behind what no longer serves you.

Usually when we say that, we’re referencing an unhealthy relationship or something else holding a client back from thriving, but 2020 has widened our scope. I, for one, have realized that a lot of the rules I’d made up in my head about day-to-day life (e.g., my kids have to go to a certain school, I have to work in a particular office, I need to keep the same monthly appointments, etc.) weren’t rules after all. They were just assumptions I’d made. The circumstances of 2020 challenged those belief systems, and I’m starting to think that challenge was for the better.

Here are a few examples. For years, my husband and I were determined to keep our kids in a particular public school. That meant living in a certain neighborhood so we were always in the school zone. Then, this year, our children’s learning went virtual and we started to wonder, “Is this school really the only good option out there?” The answer turned out to be “No,” and that opened up a whole new world of possibilities for our family.

COVID-19 also forced us to take another look at our budget, and we realized just how much we used to spend on unnecessary things. It was amazing to see how often we’d been getting our nails done, eating out, and going to movie theaters and arcades just because. As it turns out, a lot of that spending wasn’t necessary — we can get the same thrill at a much lower cost by taking our kids to the park or going fishing with them. I can already tell that realization will have ripple effects for years to come.

This month, I have a challenge for you: try using these last few weeks of 2020 as a moment of reflection. What did you give up this year that you don’t need (or want) to add back into your life? Do you really need to work in an office instead of from home? Do you really need to spend that much on hair and beauty appointments? Maybe not. You might find, like I did, that you’re holding on tightly to things that don’t serve you. Once you’ve identified those things, ask yourself the opposite: what are you truly missing that you’d like to prioritize going forward?

The answers to these questions will be our armor going into the New Year. In 2021, we’ll be healthier, smarter, and stronger. Just wait and see.

From our families to yours, happy holidays!


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