Hi friend,
2020 what a year… it’s hard to even wrap my mind about where to begin this post but I know I want something concrete enough to look back on this year and remember what it was. How unbelievably hard it was. How much of a triumph it was. To remember the year the world just stopped.
A new decade, tons of opportunity and a year sounding so futuristic at the time it’s as if you jumped out of a time traveling movie. The new decade brought ideas of hope and opportunity and we all began goal setting and dreaming of travel destinations to visit in the new year.

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None of us could have expected or even believed a global pandemic was about to completely stop all us in our tracks. I remember the day the world shut down. I was at work and we were asked to bring home all our computers and equipment and expect to not return to work the following Monday.
I’m not sure I believed it then. It felt so unimaginable that I didn’t even bring home all the things I truly needed at first. I left my favorite tumbler cup in the office and haven’t seen it in almost a year.
Even now I look back at quarantine like how did we do that? We really didn’t go anywhere, we didn’t leave our homes for almost a full year? It’s just wild to think we all just kind of . . . stopped.
But through this pause it really taught me a lot about myself, about life and just about the world in general. I feel like we all kind of needed this pause to reset and really teach us about what matters and what’s important.

I learned a lot about myself this year. I learned I don’t have to do everything at a million miles an hour. Good things take time and some of the best things come from slow growth. I think I sometimes move in a million directions taking half developed ideas to full fruition without giving them real time to grow and develop. I’ve learned I don’t have to do it all especially all the time. I’ve learned to say no, to know when I can’t take on anymore. I’ve become more versed in this little thing called balance that’s really kept me focused this year.
I also learned about the world this year and really paid attention to others and things affecting things bigger than myself. I think when the world stopped and people began to reflect we all realized the world needs change. There is room for growth and I am determined to help foster ideals to keep this growth going.
This slow moving society won’t last forever. We are a world that lives life in the fast lane and someday soon we will go back to work and visit international destinations and life from 2020 will seem like a thing of the past. But I hope I don’t forget the lessons I learned in 2020 and the things about myself that I really grew to like about me when I was forced to go days without seeing anyone else. I hope I work on the things I discovered about myself that have room for growth.

I know the world gave us a lot this year. But I am thankful for everything 2020 gave me this year.
It gave me more full days with my family than I’ve had in the past five years. It gave me more time with Pierce so many days just sitting on the couch talking and learning things about each other we didn’t think we had left to know. 2020 brought me sweet Miller, owning a dog I never thought was possible while working full time.
2020 taught me that I really don’t need much to get by. That I really don’t need paper towels and wet wipes to have a clean kitchen. That owning less and throwing things away really makes me feel like I have more. I learned I don’t need a new dress and a new outfit every few weeks and loungewear should forever be work acceptable.
All these things add up and I think we all forever will be changed by 2020 in some way. I know it wasn’t a perfect year but it might have been everything we didn’t know we were searching for. And I’m thankful we got to experience this pause because I truly think it will bring out change in all of us.
xoxo,
Zoe
