Three great things I've learned since 2020

At the end of each year it is customary to draw the sums and make a balance sheet. After all, it is a cycle that closes, like so many others in life. The focus is on achievements, disappointments, important events, achievements and those still to be achieved. Above all, in a year like 2020, we know exactly what we want to leave behind forever.

Difficult and unpredictable year, we have rightly associated it with the loneliness, crisis and uncertainty typical of our time. For better or for worse, 2020 has left us an important legacy. It is up to us to decide whether to consider it heavy and catastrophic or, as someone has said, whether "we will get out better".

But if it's so easy to focus on what we don't want anymore, why not remind us more often about What do we want? In absolute, there is no year that can be considered as good and bad. We should just learn to relativize and change our way of seeing events. 2020 has taken away many things from us, and in some cases unfortunately also people dear to us. But what if these shortcomings were the starting point to start over and give ourselves an extra gear?

I am part of that category of people who from forced isolation decided to get a new lymph, tucking up their sleeves and saying, "What can I do now? " The result was a long work on myself, a completely new vision of life and an unexpected series of lessons I learned from this stormy 2020.

Dream the future, but live without expectations

Since 2020 I have learned above all how best to live without having too many expectations, neither positive nor negative. I will continue to have great plans and dream big, but without putting all my hopes in something that still has to happen. There is so much talk of "living in the here and now," to enjoy every single day without too many projections in the future. This year I finally realized what it means living in the present, and how much this makes my days richer, more carefree, worthy to be lived.

The long months of lockdown They put me in front of a crossroads: give in to events or continue to live. I decided to reinvent myself, make the most of my resources and make 2020 a dense and fruitful year, despite everything.

Appreciating small things, not taking anything for granted

At the announcement of the lockdown We found ourselves closed between four walls, giving up freedom and most of our habits. I too, almost never at home, felt like this. But if on the one hand I missed travel, I appreciated a "simple" Italian summer in the company of my dearest family and friends. Giving up dinners, walks and aperitifs, I just needed a virtual toast to feel in good company. I understood how important a banal gesture like a message, a thought or a small gift can be in this climate of uncertainties. Nothing in this world is for granted, the only true certainty is our present. So let's live it!

Practice sharing, gratitude, human contact

The last great teaching that 2020 has left me is the importance of human relations; too often given for granted. Loneliness has allowed me to reflect and devote myself time, but it has also made me understand how important sharing, friendship and sociality is to me. You may miss it but worldly life, great events and long journeys, but none of this really matters if it is not shared with the right people. 2020, despite restrictions and distance, was made unique by persons, that with their energy have made shine even the most complex of years.

Since 2020 I have learned that in the midst of chaos there is always a good reason to smile: the human heat, a spontaneous gesture, gratitude for ourselves and for others.

Instead of looking back and thinking about what the old year has taken away from us, we think about what it has given us and what it will give us a future.

This time I will not health the new year with good wishes, good intentions and long budgets, but with the hope that it is the beginning of a new era, in the sign of sharing, gratitude and above all reconstruction.

See you in 2021!