This year has really been one that will go down in history for everyone in the world. As I write this post, I’m a little sad because I should have been in Japan celebrating the New Year with my girlfriend’s family. Instead, it’s just my girlfriend and I here in New York.
There have been so many difficulties for us this year, but let’s look at the positive things.
- Instead of always going out, most of us rediscovered our homes.
Despite all my traveling and friends I’ve made all over the world, I’m actually pretty introverted and prefer to stay home rather than go out. Why do we spend so much money on a nice home, decorate it, then leave to go somewhere else and pay lots more money to do so? I love to make my meals at home and spend them with the one I love. - The US got a new president.
Biden may not be the best choice out of all that were available, but certainly better than the past 4 years. We’ve seen some changes recently in the White House that will impact us for many years to come. I know that Mr. Biden will work to help the US, but I wish there wasn’t so much childish stuff to clean up after. One oh my English students from Japan said that 2021’s slogan should be “Make American Happy Again!” She couldn’t be more right. - The world learned that we can work from home.
As an Office 365 trainer and adoption specialist, the very core of what I teach has to do with working remotely. More employers are realizing that leasing a large amount of space, purchasing cubicles, forcing a dress code of uncomfortable and somewhat expensive clothing, etc. is just not reasonable these days. Up until the 1990s, I absolutely saw the need to have an office space and come together physically to work, but now, we have the technological means to literally work from anywhere in the world. We can pay a little more because we’re saving on all this office space and infrastructure equipment now, right? - Travel has been cut short or completely eliminated and it gave us a chance to breathe.
We can appreciate our homes again or make them into something that we do appreciate. We can plan our next trip with more detail. - We can get out of the house.
Even in the New York winters, we’ve gone out at least once a week, sometimes as many as three times to go hiking. We live at the border of New York and Connecticut, so we have a lot of options for hiking in nature. We’ve discovered so much beauty around us and we love it. We were avid hikers in the past, and we’re even more so these days.
It’s very easy to complain about things. We can highlight every difficulty. Personally, I lost my job and had to miss out on two other contracts because of coronavirus. I’m not going to dwell on that. I’m going to look forward to this future that we’re all forging together. We can make our days great or not. We can choose to be happy or frustrated… factors around us don’t make us upset or angry, we choose to react that way. Sure, the world isn’t what we want it to be, but we can make it something amazing tomorrow!
Hello 2021! Let’s make the world happy again!