2020. Ring any bells? 

For the record, when I say bells, think more ear splittingly loud, massive, clanging alarms of doom that never seem to stop giving people constant headaches and anxiety. At least, that’s the connotation those four digits seem to be garnering of late, and often for good reason. Putting it lightly, the last nine months of chaos haven’t exactly been a normal year. Some might call 2020 the worst year of their life. Guys, there’s even a song about the turbulence of 2020, coined affectionately as *expletive* 2020. So yeah, it’s not everyone’s favorite grandchild if you get what I’m saying. However, I’m also here to say that 2020 is not cancelled, and we can’t give up on it just yet. 

To be blunt, there’s too much going on with 2020 to just abandon it. 2020 is an important year for our world with lots of issues that we get to tackle. There’s our election to see through, the pandemic to deal with, and the Black Lives Matter movement going on to name a few. If we just give up, there’s no knowing what these things’ futures will be, good or bad, because there won’t be anyone there working for them. If we stay closed off to 2020, we’ll never be able to finish what we started during it, much less continue the stuff we’re striving to achieve. 

Plus, haven’t we realized and learned so much within the past nine months? Being able to control nothing and slow down brought a completely new mindset to living. Our way of life was truly, and is still flipped upside down. We had to deal with silence and uncertainty. We were forced inside our homes and it got us, or at least me, thinking. Thinking about the important stuff and being appreciative of everyday moments that I’ve otherwise ignorantly taken for granted. Thankfully, these thoughts haven’t just stayed thoughts and there have been so many good actions that have come from 2020 as well. People who listen to others, who donate their time and money to good causes that matter. I’ve seen countless smiles and kindness come from all of this, but I can still understand the hardships of this year too. Just like the countless smiles, there’ve been countless hours that everyone’s spent waiting and worrying too. Wondering why this is happening and why now, why us. Events piling in one after the other and getting worse each time. Some days nothing seems positive; only bad news and crushing disappointments. The doubt of ever being able to go back to normal can be almost too painful to bear some days. Those are the hardest, when the tunnel is dark and you wonder if there really is any light at the end. All that negativity swirling around this year may seem like the only thing 2020 is good for. However, if 2020 is that one piece of celery that you can’t get out of your teeth, you know what you do? You go and get your toothbrush and start scrubbing. You clear away all of that unnecessary junk and start accepting 2020 for what it really is: something worth fighting for. Worth seeing through until the very end.