We ended 2020 with a post about what the word of the year was: Pandemic. So I thought we'd start this book with a little refresher: 2020 was a pretty crummy year. Worldwide pandemic. Earthquakes. Quarantines. Social Distancing. Horribly-polarized Presidential Election. In fact- the word 2020 has basically become synonymous with "crummy".
I had to laugh as I went back to read what we had to say at the beginning of the year.
"Welcome to 2020. Shantel and I have been making lots of jokes about how this is the year that corrective vision treatment centers have been dreaming of forever. We expect a lot of marketing aimed at 20/20 and vision-related things. (Shantel: It's true. And I'm excited for 2020. It just SOUNDS good.) We are excited for the new year and have committed to some awesome goals this year.
*Cue hysterical laughter*
Ah. *wipes tears of laughter* We had no idea what 2020 had in store for us. And all of the 20/20 vision marketing plans all but disappeared in March when it was clear that no one wanted to be associated with "2020". I can only imagine those urgent marketing meetings.
Leading up to 2021, there were a lot of great memes about the year finally ending. My mom had us all watch a video clip spoof of a woman insisting that 2021 was going to "make everything better" and the general consensus has been this: "Yes, we are glad that 2020 is over - but please, no one make any sudden moves so that 2021 doesn't turn into a low-budget sequel."
But even as I type this out, I feel compelled to correct my humorous and pessimistic analysis of 2020. The year was filled with blessings for us and our family. There were so many silver linings to each and every storm cloud that it's already hard to remember the storm because the light has been shining through so brightly. David and I were laughing about our January 2020 blog post until we came to this part:
"And so, with that we look forward into the upcoming year with excitement and hope that it will be a year to make us better people, bring us closer to each other, and help us grow in faith and goodness. We're here for you 2020! "
We sobered up immediately because it truly was a year to make us better people, bring us closer to each other, and it did help us grow in faith and goodness. That's the amazing thing about living a life in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Even if the winds are blowing and calamity is raging, He is steady and provides ways to grow and strengthen - not just in spite of the hard things, but because of them.
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Although this year we are hoping for a little more "social" and a little less "quarantine"; we are still looking to the future with optimism and faith. We will be looking for ways to stand valiantly and steadfast, working for positive change, refusing to back down from the fight. We will work to root out racism in our lives and our community, we will stand for goodness and virtue, we will do our best to love and lift those around us.
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{Shantel}
I'm a little light on the "goals" area this year. My only goal that I can come up with is "To balance my responsibilities and my priorities with more Grace." This is not just an effort at more gracefulness (although Heaven knows I need that, too) but to balance the things I am responsible for doing with the things that are truly my highest priority with an increased dependence on the Grace of Jesus Christ.
Responsibilities: Stake Primary Calling. Academic Learning. Food Housekeeping. Ministering.
Priorities: Relationships. Spiritual Nourishment. Sharing my love and my time with my family. David.
Some things that I am looking forward to in 2021 are:
-February Science Fair. Trip to Texas with Austin. Family Vacation to the Redwoods. Study the Doctrine and Covenants. Spring Hikes.
{David}
First I should report on my goals from last year.
-Attend the temple every month: I attended in both January and February before the pandemic closed down all temples for the rest of the year.
-Exercise 100 times: I marked off about 60 and forgot to mark it about 10-20 other times, but did not quite reach my goal although I did a much better job overall exercising and hope to continue that in 2021. It was a really good goal because I found that as the year wore on it really was a bit stressful with all the items noted above and exercising really helped relieve that stress.
-Blog each week: This was my most successful goal and I did it all the way through mid-November (except 1 week on July). Overall I was able to blog almost every week and stayed up on it throughout the year.
-User my planner 40 times for weekly planning: This one I did pretty good using it about 30 times instead of 40.
-Finish the basement: We got so close on this one, we just have a few very small touch up items that we still need to get to (mostly caulking in the bathroom and adding the backsplash.)
Overall, I actually feel pretty good about my effort for 2020 goals and think they helped me have a good year.
As far as goals for 2021, I have a big list of ideas of what I'd like to do, but have not been able to figure out exactly what I want yet. I think I'll just say that my goal is to use my planner each week to help me accomplish the things that are most important. This includes being able to pray to know the things I should be doing and prioritizing those.
