Here’s a list of what I accomplished this year:

1. I stopped criticizing how my family loads the dishwasher.
2. After March 14th, I wore elastic waist pants 99% of the time.
3. I read at least one book a week.
4. I survived a daily commute of 8-10 steps.
5. I walked outside at least 80% of the days after March 14th.
6. I did not fly on an airplane even once since March 17th.
7. My business thrived despite my constant fear and panic that it would die after March 14th.
8. I met hundreds of truly incredible people through Zoom and I loved them every bit as much as I would have had I met them in person. Who knew that the human spirit can be transferred virtually?
9. I stopped checking my United Airlines app daily to see if my points were being added correctly.
10. I stopped brushing the hair on the back of my head.
11. I fell in love with red lipstick.
12. I admitted that my husband was right about not downsizing our house, even though I had pushed him to do so at the beginning of 2020.
13. I found kindness all over the place and avoided hatred whenever possible.
14. I got comfortable with wearing a face mask.
15. I found that I liked wearing a face mask to the grocery store because I didn’t have to talk to people when I had it on.
16. I coached a lot of incredibly brilliant, powerful, thoughtful, and determined people who changed my life just by being in it.
17. I led training groups filled with brand new coaches who filled my faith in humanity bucket to overflowing.
18. I voted.
19. I missed my parents, my brother, and more time with my oldest son, his wife, and their puppy.
20. I binge watched “Schitt’s Creek,” “The Great,” “The Queen’s Gambit,” and some crazy show about tigers. I liked them all except the tiger show.

21. I survived; I’d say even thrived in a pandemic. If you had told me on March 14th that we would lose over 200,000 Americans to a deadly virus, that we would essentially be isolated from friends and family for the rest of the year and probably beyond, and that my business would look dramatically different than I had ever pictured it, I might have chosen to sit out 2020. Since that wasn’t an option, I kept going, one step at a time, into a very scary and unknown future. And I trusted myself and those around me to be okay.

Bring on 2021! I’m ready. Are you?

Love,

Lisa Kaplin Psy. D. PCC