You see and hear it all the time these days. Just like the above meme, people are joking and posting and talking about how horrible 2020 has been, how much it has sucked.
No. No it hasn’t. A lot has sucked, as it often does. Some of the government’s decisions, some of the media’s reporting, and some of the public’s response to 2020 have sucked.
2020 is just a number on a calendar. Numbers don’t suck. Plus, part of this calendar year – the first quarter – was pretty okay, wasn’t it? So, people are just focusing on the negative, as they unfortunately do all too often.
While there is no doubt we are experiencing a challenging and historic time, so have humans throughout history.
Just think about this one moment in history 75 years ago – when the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945. Was it 1945 that sucked or was what sucked the result of prior decisions the world’s despots and leaders made leading up to it and/or their people’s inability or unwillingness to demand a more effective path for the world?
Is what we’re experiencing now significant and unique? Absolutely. But it is not about a calendar number. To think so, is ill-advised and unwise. Nothing is going to magically change in 2021. Mark my words. My readers were forewarned about this in my first blog of 2020…
“It happens every year. The previous year of trials is decried and fresh hope for better things to come is placed on the turn of the calendar. Nothing could be more fallacious.You see it all over social media. ‘Last year sucked. BUT THIS YEAR IS GONNA ROCK!’
Countless generations have looked to a new year as a panacea for life’s problems. Silly people. You do realize that the calendar is a figment of our collective imagination, don’t you? While days, weeks, months and years help us organize our lives, there is absolutely, positively nothing magical about a change of digits. So, please stop putting any hope in your future in the fact that the time period we called 2019 ended and what we are now calling 2020 has started. The disappointment people around the world experience as soon as the same type of stuff they have experienced in the past shows up in the New Year often thwarts any kind of real progress for them. And it’s all because they mistakenly put hope in a calendar change, whether consciously or unconsciously.
Okay, it’s 2020. It’s a cool number. It’s a new decade (that we made up). It’s fine. Yet still, the whole construct of the calendar is literally man-made. The barriers to our progress, both individually and corporately, are also man-made. We have the collective capacity to conquer every challenge we face. Every answer humans need is in our hearts. However, we know we only access 10% of our brain’s capacity. Man-made barriers we put on ourselves like racism, sexism, homophobia, divisiveness of all types, insecurities, self-loathing, a false sense of identity and putting any level of hope in a change of years—limits our ability to tap into the amazing potential we have.
So, please stop it!
Here is exactly what is going to happen to you and the world in 2020.
The same kind of things that occurred in 2019 and 1919 and 1519 and 19. There are going to be great times, tragic moments, weather challenges, people are going to be born, die, get sick, get well, get married, get divorced, gain weight, lose weight, lose their minds, make money, go broke, get happy and depressed. Just like every year.”
So, what to do now? How do we move forward? With great attitudes, perspectives, clear-headed and reality-based thoughts, healthful modalities, and lots of humor—just like overcoming humanity has done since recorded history began no matter how they identified the particular period of time they were living in—that’s how!
In the end, this is what it means to be “producing life and pleasure”.
Please let me know how I can help you and/or yours.