The other day, Marly and I were reflecting on the last year. With the vaccine rollout, there's light at the end of the tunnel. I asked: did we consider this past year a “lost” year? I look back and see I didn’t write nearly as much as I thought I would; you can look back on the blog posts and they’ve been very intermittent. In 2019, I read 20 books in 2020? Two.
I picked up the guitar for the first time in months last night…and sat down at the piano for the first time in forever. I didn’t learn to cook new meals or write my next, great novel.
So, was it a lost year? I think the default for so many of us is to focus on the “didn’t” instead of the “did.” For us, we grew strawberries for the first time and had an herb garden. We learned how to dry and store herbs that we’re still using. We successfully navigated a full year of online learning with Colin and both of us had our own shares of successes at work while 100% virtual. And then I read something.
A Facebook Post
I saw someone post some frustration on Facebook about their kids wanting to stay virtual; that Covid made their lives easy and that going back to “the grind” of in-person would help them be productive adults.
I responded and then deleted because it’s going to take more than a few sentences to address.
If there’s anyone that thinks Covid made life easy and convenient…they are completely absurd. Nothing has been easy this year.
But this “grind” of in person comment really irked me. My son has been grinding, while being 100% virtual. In fact, as a freshman…he is in accelerated Algebra II. What were you doing as a freshman? He has had to learn Spanish while virtual using all of the tools around him from Duolingo to watching Spanish movies to pick words up.
He’s had to learn Zoom and OneNote…how to write homework out on paper, then find an app to take an image of his homework that then transforms the image to PDF so he can submit it. He created a virtual study group with other at-home kids and then created a video for those kids teaching them how to use Microsoft Teams.
I don’t know your kids…but that sounds like some grinding to me. It sounds like Colin could walk into most businesses today and teach a chunk of folks a thing or two about being remote/virtual. Our team has been working hard all year to get the team to create videos and share learnings…and my 14 year old did it on his own.
If you allowed your kid to become complacent during this time and not learning something…that’s on you. Not your kid. Not the schools. Not “the government.” Not some unnamed conspiracy. You.
Side note: because we live in a society of exception-based-arguments: I get that there are exceptions. The younger kids. Those kids who struggle with learning. My point is in reference to older kids, with usual learning capabilities. There will always be exceptions…but those exceptions don’t disprove this argument.
When it got hard for Colin, I told him to find a way. I worked with him to find a way forward. It was ugly at times. Tears, frustration, and burnout. But to suggest it was easy; to suggest that he and others like him haven’t been grinding it out? I take great exception. It’s an insult to how hard he’s been pushing this year.
It’s an insult to me and others like me. I’ve built a learning management system for my team during this year, implemented new CRM and Sales Enablement tools, on-boarded a Customer Success department, added a Customer Success platform all while getting my “normal” responsibilities done as well. And it hasn’t been easy. Nor have I been in-person.
But I’ve been grinding.
Being “in-person” or remote isn’t indicative of being a productive adult. Overcoming challenges is.
The Lost Year?
If you “lost” a year…there’s only one person to blame and it ain’t Fauci. Or Biden. Or some shadow government. It’s you. You made the decision to pout. You made the decision to say different equals bad.
I’m seeing so many comments about “getting back to living.” If you stopped living this year…that’s on you. We had a year of great memories. Were we limited on some activities? Of course, but we had just as much laughter this year as we did in 2019. Even though we were “stuck” with each other constantly…we still find ourselves together.
Life is about choices. It’s not about perfect…it’s what you do with the cards you’re dealt. You can sit back and be a petulant child and whine and complain about “the mean ol government” or you can make some lemonade.
I’m completely over the narrative that we stopped living in 2020. “We” didn’t…you may have, but that was your choice; it wasn't forced on you. Your attitude is your decision. We overcame obstacles. We learned new ways of pushing forward. We learned new technologies. We learned new skills. We experienced new things. We laughed. We cried. We were together. We lived.
I’m sad for you if you chose to not live in 2020 and experience the highs and lows. You may have lost a year. And for all its’ faults, all of its’ challenges and pain… it was still a great year.
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