What if I told your that 2020 was the best year of my life? Referencing President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s comments after the Pearl Harbor attacks, “A year (not day) that will live in infamy.” 2020 started with a shock with the tragic and heartbreaking death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and those 7 other precious individuals. God rest their souls. Such an icon and someone who had the ora of a superhero who would live forever suddenly gone from this earth. Truly a wake up call.
Then came Covid-19 and that was all she wrote in regards to most people’s plans and resolutions. However, if you were someone like me at the start of the year, you had nowhere to go but up. 2020 has taught me to not let Situation define Self. I can honestly say that 2020 has been the most productive and transformational year of my life. Not because, I achieved a lot or made a lot of money, but because I used pain and struggle to achieve success. I guess the question at the end of the day come down to a 9 word question:
What will you do when you hit rock bottom?
In a lot of ways, it feels like we have as a society. However, despite all that we have been through in 2020, 2021 will not gracefully offer its sympathy like a vast majority of people are suggesting. I can’t count how many times throughout this year where I have heard people say things to the tune: “2021 can’t get here soon enough”. Well, it is finally here. However, I can assure you the tomorrow on January 1, 2021, the pandemic and financial crisis will still be here, unemployment will still be on the rise, mental illness will still be making its imprint on society and people will still display hate towards people who are different from them. That being said, we can’t let the situation define ourselves. We all have the power and the ability to enact positive change in our lives. 2020 has woken me up to my former reality. I have had time to sit at home and ponder who I was. I had time to align my habits with my goals. I have had time to read amazing books about people who struggled just like me and used their pain to achieve their ultimate destiny. I have had time to write 2 books of my own which I had always thought about but never actually acted upon in years prior. I have had time to talk to my loved ones and realize how precious those moments are and how much I had taken them for granted in years past. I have had time to thank God for the life he gave me. I have had time to sit in silence and be with myself and understand that I was in control, not the situation.
I guess I was one of the lucky ones. I guess I didn’t need 2020 to hit rock bottom. I had already been there for some time. 2020 woke me up from a deep sleep. 2020 showed me how valuable, beautiful and fragile life in the flesh is. 2020 made me a better leader of myself. Excuse my selfishness, but 2020 has been a Godsend for me. I am not blind to people’s pain, I am not oblivious to the struggle that people have gone through this past year (physically and mentally). I pray for those people and I pray God helps them to find themselves despite the situation. 2021 offers no sympathy or guarantees of improvement. The situation will remain the same. 2021 will be defined how true to Self we choose to stay. Thank God for 2020. Sad to see you go but forever grateful for the quiet blessings you left behind.
Swiss-Army Leadership 