My Learnings in 2020

A few months ago I wrote a mini-review of what I had accomplished this year, with a grain of grace. It is something I want to do each year to summarize what I have learned. This year has been extra challenging, and during my time at home I have been able to learn a lot about myself. Each title includes a link to a related post. These are in no particular order.

1. Ten minutes a day keeps the lazies away. Discovering that I can go through my task list by timing myself for 10 minutes has been such an eye opener. I continue to be amazed by the power of scheduling a few minutes a day for a specific task, or telling myself that I can just give it a few minutes and be done. There is still so much that I can accomplish with this principle, and I look forward to implementing it more and more in my life.
2. No juggling please. I have caught myself wanting to enjoy too much at once. Watching TV while on the phone. Walking outside while looking for something on the phone. Chatting with someone and playing with my phone. The phone! I have been glued to it for too long and don’t find as much pleasure in using it as I did once. When bored, jumping on it sounds like a great solution to beat a slow moment, but many times it just sucks me into the black hole of the internet and I end up empty, and still looking for something to do.
3. Exercising. How much do I not like to exercise. I do it because it is good for me, and that is it. However, I enjoy walks and now try to go on them as a family or even make them into a jog when the time is right. I also plan to apply the 10-minute rule to some specific exercises. Something is much better than nothing.
4. Using food more as a solace more than for nourishment. I have successfully completed a year of intermittent fasting. I have realized that I was overfeeding myself and saw face to face how I use food to celebrate and weep with. While skipping breakfast has made life easier and helped me to even avoid the before-lunch-snack, my sweet tooth hasn’t subsided much and I noticed that I would want more food about an hour after my first meal. This year I plan to include a late breakfast and stick to an early dinner.
5. I don’t need to have an opinion. How freeing it has been to see that if I am not affected, I don’t need to be involved. It helps keep a healthier relationship with those around me and doesn’t emotionally burden me with situations that are just not my business.
6. Listening is more powerful than you think. In the midst of the racial tension in our country, I have been blessed to have been given resources to understand more about what has been happening. My biggest take-away has been that giving people room to express themselves is the first step to help fix a problem.

It has been such a rough year, but I am grateful for the reality check. In the midst of a pandemic I have been forced to evaluate what is truly important, how I see myself, and how I am using my most valuable asset, time, to achieve my goals and dreams. I have questioned myself on how I can make a change to improve my community and how I can use what I have right now. I have changed directions in my ambition from more for me to more for us. For this, I believe that I will leave 2020 being more focused, more empowered, and seeking to be kind as much as possible.