I mean…who isn’t ready for 2021? 2020 came in with a bang…and then proceeded to kick us on in the…(well…you know!).
2020 is the year that started with so much promise, and we had no idea what we were going to face. It’s truly been a really tough year. However, I strongly believe that there is a bright side coming out of this, and we can only hope for better things to come in 2021.
Between everything that’s happening in society in general, Covid19 (a quarter million Americans died as a result of it), the Black Lives Matter movement (with the death of Breona Taylor and Georges Floyd), and many more, I just want to say BYE 2020.
Here is what 2020 taught me:
- As an individual/member of society…
One lesson I learned this year is that you don’t know how much you can take until you’re given it. Whether it’s knowing someone who contracted or passed away from Covid-19, dealing with a job loss or just navigating our children’s virtual learning, we have all been affected by Covid-19. Explaining to a four year old why she can’t have a play date because of a pandemic was no easy feat.
Couple a pandemic with the protests across our country as a result of the awakening our society is experiencing due to the inequities in our judicial system for people of color, and you have a powder cake of mental stress. The tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other people of color has brought to the surface the grim mirror our society must face and deal with. As a mother of four, it has changed the conversations I had with my young children. It required me to really think about the words I was using to describe the moment we were in…which frankly was extremely stressful.
This year has undoubtedly been a year of endurance and learning how to be mentally strong. At a time when many of us thought we can’t take another day, this has really empowered us to understand that we can come out of this mentally and physically stronger.
- As a Black woman
If you look at how Black women broadly are closing out this year, we are closing it pretty strong! Kamala Harris, first woman AND woman of color as the Vice President of the United States! If it wasn’t for all the Black women who showed up, worked the polls and made sure their votes are cast, we wouldn’t have been able to reach this amazing milestone. And that’s an incredible statement on the power of Black women in America.
As Black women, we are incredibly resilient. I think of all the women who always show up, rarely complaining, sacrificing and being there for our families and our community (as doctors, nurses, teachers, bus drivers, grocery store workers…just to scratch the surface). We are always over working, over cooking, and just over doing it. That is why it is important for us to take a moment and just breathe.
One thing that I learned is to be equally selfish about my mental and physical health as my husband (or men in general). We tend to stay at home, nurse, clean and cook while men are more protective of their “me time”. As we close out 2020 and look at 2021, ladies…let’s make a commitment to be selfish about our health and our alone time. Your body and your mind will thank you for it.
- As a business owner
As a business owner in 2020, I have learned that it is important to have that risk/mitigation plan in place. We went through a painful period this year, where our products were out of stock at some of our national retailers’ shelves (CVS, Target, Kroger, etc.). The reason for that is because we were in the queue to get plastic bottles for our products. Since everyone was making hand sanitizers, production on our empty bottles was delayed which further delayed our production cycle. What I learned about myself is my ability to truly multitask. Coming from a consulting background, I’ve always been really strong at multitasking, but you wouldn’t imagine the number of things that are on my mind right now as we end this year.
As a business owner, Covid-19 taught me to learn how to be flexible, respond to the market and scale very quickly. Since the outbreak, our customers were not able to shop at their local beauty store and they had to go online and place their orders, so the channel by which our customers buy has shifted and we had to be ready for that. The good news is that we were, for the most part, but we had some hurdles throughout the way and we learned to overcome them and we are coming out of this stronger for 2021.
Even though 2020 has been a really tough year, I am trying REALLY hard to look at the positive and keep a hopeful attitude for the new year. Whether it’s because I’ve spent more time at home making dinners for my kids, having lots of family time, coming up with creative things to do on the weekends as a family instead of just sitting in front of the TV, enjoying the outdoors because it’s socially distant, etc. All of these have been good, positive things that came out of 2020.
So as we look back on this year and say goodbye to it, we should just remember that better things are coming and we should all welcome 2021 stronger and safer!
xoxo
Renee @lifebyRenee
