As with so much in 2020, New Year’s Eve celebrations this year will look very different and not just because jam-packed gatherings in central squares and house parties are forbidden, ensuring most of us will ring in 2021 alone with a glass of bubbly in one hand and mouse attached to a laptop (dialled into a de rigueur Zoom call) in the other.
If ever there was a year most people were happy to wave goodbye to, it is 2020 which makes the incoming year that much more anticipated. Maybe this is the start of the much-talked-about V 2.0 of the “Roaring 20s,” 21st-century style.
We noted in our Christmas blog that the upside to life in a pandemic is heightened gratitude for the little things that we often previously took for granted. That animals give comfort and companionship disproportionate to their status. That simple coffee with friends and a hug at the end of the visit is worth more than gold. That people are remarkably adaptable.
Of course, big losses were also keenly felt across the planet, but a New Year has always been about looking ahead and not backwards and imagining what might be. In the wake of what has happened, garden variety New Year’s resolutions such as weight loss and quitting smoking seem positively quaint.
It’s no overstatement to say that 2021 will be about learning how to survive and thrive in a reshaped world where office workers are a nearly extinct breed and mask-wearing is as ordinary and reflexive as putting on pants.
It’s heartening to think that another unexpected upside of the year that just happened — which will positively impact the incoming year— is that maybe we will all be kinder to each other, knowing intimately that struggles with potentially shattering things like job loss, family separation, and food insecurity aren’t always obvious just by looking at someone. We hedge our bets and seed good karma by being gentle with everyone always.
Similarly, we have all been forced to slow down in some capacity, whether at work or socially or because of childcare or illness. That reduced pace has allowed us to reflect more deeply on what matters, to live in the present and simply breathe rather than to robotically sprint between meetings and soccer practices.
If all that sounds pollyannaish, so be it. Even the toughest and most trying life events benefit from bright-side optimism and humour, which is why funeral eulogies often produce the biggest laughs of the year. If we can’t find some kind of silver lining from our too-brief spell on Earth, what’s the point?
We can wallow in it, or we can resolve to make 2021 the best, most personally/spiritually fulfilling year to date, simply by focusing on what really matters — friends, family, animals, food, breath, sunshine, Chardonnay (though that could just be me) — and relegating the bad to hard-won experience and distant memory.
Back on Track hopes to soar in 2021, and we hope to be able to assist you, your loved ones, and your four-legged cohorts in living your best life via Welltex® and Iontex®, the functional, analgesic ceramic textile used across our product line that has been documented to help ease muscle tension, increase blood circulation, and aid in shortening the recovery process. Now more than ever.
Link:
