Part I of III
Each December since 2007, I share my biggest lessons from the previous 12 months. Given the challenges of 2020, this list could be really long. That said, here are my favorite lessons during this ‘year of all years’:
Home Life – Imagine if one year ago I had written: “You’ll spend nine months working from home while participating in video sessions using an app named Zoom.” (If I had, you could have bought the stock and made nearly 500%!) Yet here we are… and it looks like we’ll be this way a while longer. There are many videos of epic mishaps during online meetings: kids in the background, cats walking across keyboards, people forgetting they’re on camera. Still, think of how far we’ve come with our comfort level. What once seemed strange is now natural. What once was perceived as ineffective is now productive. What once was a non-starter is now accepted. Evolution takes centuries. Most of the time. Occasionally it happens fast.
Simple Stroll – The arrival of Covid meant the end of my weekday lap swimming exercise at Life Time Fitness. So I started walking every morning at the crack of dawn. For 34 weeks, I kept the streak alive: 170 straight weekdays. In the beginning, I could do about 45 minutes – roughly 2.5 miles. Within a few months, my time on the trails behind our neighborhood averaged more than five miles… with a few two-hour seven milers mixed in for fun. Alas, the streak ended on Tuesday, November 10, and it’s been hit or miss since. The lesson here is, at least for me, it’s much easier to keep doing something than to take a break and start anew.
New Hobby – I hadn’t put together a 1,000-piece puzzle during the past 45 years. Then came the Spring Shutdown. Our daughter Kelsey and I sat down at a table to work on one… and a couple months later we’d completed seven. There are four waiting in the wings – and I’m guessing the holidays just might include more peaceful and relaxing jigsaw journeys.
