I could talk about current events.  I could talk about Martin Luther King, Jr..  I could talk about New Year’s resolutions.  But in my first missive of 2021 I think it will be more fun to look back on the last year.

If I could go back to January 2020, these are the things I would tell myself:

• Buy stock in Zoom.
• Don’t buy that calendar.
• Don’t wait until March to put together the desk you got for Christmas.
• Buy a good webcam.
• Go to the fabric store and stock up on quilting cotton and elastic.
• Buy toilet paper.  Enough to last 3 months.
• Find a curbside pickup grocery app that you like.
• Embrace working out at home.
• Don’t buy the dress pants, skirts, or shoes.
• Buy ALL the leggings.
• Even if you are not going anywhere, start the car once in a while to keep the battery alive.
• Don’t buy the concert and music festival tickets.
• Put some effort into maintaining your mental health.  You’re worth it.
• Physical activity is more important than you realize.
• Stock up on Clorox wipes.
• Appreciate that husband who makes you laugh all the time.
• Make sure your modem and router are in good working order.
• You’re way ahead of the curve on camping—everyone will be doing it soon.
• Reading and watching the news is important.
• Taking a break from reading and watching the news is also important.
• Respect all people.  All the time.
• Keep track of what you are ordering from Amazon and why.  The struggle with retail therapy is real!
• Social media is a great way to keep in touch with friends.
• Social media is a great way to realize how different you are from some of your friends.
• Social media is better used for sharing recipes and cat pictures than for sharing political views.
• Watch your average daily steps on your Fitbit.  If it drops…get moving!
• Go ahead and watch Tiger King.  But DON’T watch the Cats movie.
• The stock market is a roller coaster, but it always comes back up.
• The end of December will be the best time to refinance the mortgage.
• Let your office plants die naturally rather than let the cat murder them in cold blood.
• Don’t buy the cheap wireless mouse.  The better one is worth the extra money.
• Be grateful that IT provided you with a USB headset last year.  It’s going to be an every day fashion statement soon enough.
• Shift most of your transportation budget into the grocery category.
• Support the local businesses you care about as much as you can.
• Daily showering is overrated.
• Your aging parents are going to need a LOT of tech support.
• Cooking can actually be fun.
• Mail your holiday gift packages very early…like October.
• Don’t skip your February haircut!!!!!
• Be nimble.  Change is the name of the game this year.
• You are going to lose friends—both through politics and through death.  Neither is easy.
• Your students and alumni are soon going to be paying 0% interest on student loans (at least for a while)!!!
• You’re not seeing things.  It’s not a spot on the TV screen.  That is, indeed, a fly on the head of the Vice-President.
• Build up that emergency fund….just in case you are up against a big vet bill, a new water heater, a new toilet, and a broken dryer all within 3 months.
• Be grateful your father taught you how to use tools….because it will be impossible to get a plumber to come to your house the day after Christmas.
• Murder hornets are a thing.
• Plant a garden this year.  You’ll be home to take care of it.  And it won’t have murder hornets.
• That Acorns round up investment plan you signed up for is going to work!
• You’ll get to see Hamilton this year.  But not in a theater.
• Don’t feel bad that you weren’t in shape enough to register for that bucket list half-marathon this year.  You’re not actually going to miss anything.
• Every time you think, “Well, it has to get better from here,” be aware that it does not.
• 2020 is going to be a crazy bad year.  And 2021 is going to start off just as bad.
• Focus on the things you actually have control over.
• You are stronger than you realize.

People say that hindsight is 20/20.  And now 2020 is in our hindsight.  It was without question the most challenging year of my lifetime.  More turbulent than the 2008 financial crisis.  More heart wrenching and scary than 9/11.  More politically charged than the Clinton impeachment and Watergate put together.  It was hard.  Thankfully, things that are hard are also rewarding.  Surviving 2020 is worthy of an adulting badge!  We have all made major adjustments to how we live.  We have all learned new skills.  We have adapted the way we do so many things.  And some of these will not change back to the way they were before the world turned upside down last March…because sometimes even unanticipated, undesired change can turn out to be a good thing.  My personal mantra is “Keep moving forward.”  And that is exactly what I intend to do as we roll deeper into 2021.  Because maybe, just maybe, it will get better from here.  And if it doesn’t….I’ll get to learn more new things.

Happy new year!