2020 was the worst year ever – agreed? No arguments there!

But at the end of this crazy, devestating year, what crumbs of goodness and hope can we find? In my writing group, we used this question as a prompt. So, we set the timer for 7 minutes, and here are my silver linings:

  • We adopted a lovely dog who needed rehoming. Debbie.
  • My arm worked (I broke it in November 2019)
  • I wrote 75% of a novel
  • My business worked – even in trying circumstances. I adapted, and my people were there for me. (TY)
  • I had my family home with me 24/7 (sometimes a tarnished, silver lining. LOL.)
  • My daughter moved to her first apartment
  • My son got COVID-19, and the rest of us didn’t. We all survived (so far)
  • My brother – an ER doc – is vaccinated and safe after a gruelling year of risk to himself and his family.
  • My 90 yo mother is alive and well, and survived a lonely year
  • My 82 yo mother in law will be 83 and healthy in the New Year, too.
  • We refurbished, raised the value of our house and are finally refinancing at historically low interest rates
  • Our house – that we bought in Dec 2019 – is a home. It works for us.
  • I lost 14 pounds – and have finally accepted the reality of how I must eat to serve this body – and found pleasure in eating well, for me, now.
  • Stuff is less important than we realized
  • Zoom was there for us (amazingly)
  • I have 38 new clients – whom I adore, and have growing releationships with
  • Hundreds of writers in my groups get daily value from my creativity, encouragement, and point of view on writer’s block
  • On Dec 31st, I’ll use my untapped dental benefits of 2020, to get 2 wisdom teeth pulled, finally, bec I can finally face a little pain and uncertainty again. Doesn’t seem like a silver lining, but there it is.
  • We got in 2 getaways – one to San Diego, while the pandemic #s here were low, so we could eat outdoors,  and enjoy a long weekend away; and one to Long Beach, to get out of proximity to my son’s contagion, where we worked, ordered in, and sustained our quarantine in a lovely, safe place.

In the world at large, the silver linings are several:

  • We elected Joe Biden!
  • We elected Kamala Harris!
  • The electoral college may finally perish, so majority rule may thrive.
  • We created Senate runoffs in formerly solid red state Georgia! (We may yet unseat Mitch McConnell.)
  • Events and protests forever shifted our perspective – and willful blindness – to many of our country’s biggest problems
    • BLM shifted the race discussion forever, especially in relation to policing. Systemitized Racisim may yet receive a body blow.
    • The effect of carbon emissions on the environment is down 7% overall, which succinctly proves the impact of man on climate change
    • Poverty actually decreased when unemployment benefits were beefed up by $600/wk by the Federal CARES act. Getting money to those in crisis clearly helps resolve poverty. It’s not that complicated and it can be done.
    • We achieved a vaccine in less than 1 year – and discovered an entirely new approach to vaccines, which may revolutionize our search for vaccines for diseases like the flu, malaria, AIDS and certain cancers.

Too many losses to count –

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Terry Jones of Monty Python fame, Kirk Douglass, LA Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, Kenny Rogers, Bill Withers, Chadwick Boseman, author John LeCarre, Jeopardy’s Alex Trebek, Jerry Stiller, pilot of “Top Gun” fame Chuck Yaeger, Regis Philbin, author and AIDS activist Larry Kramer, Senator John Lewis, Hidden Figures’ real-life mathmetician Katherine Johnson, Siegfried and Roy’s Roy Horne, and my old nieghbor, a 44 yo policeman, father and really good guy, Rob Roberts.

So, without glossing over the hurts and losses, without whitewashing the outrage and panic induced by this year of years, start to find your small wins. Celebrate your silver linings as we say goodbye to so much this year.

Please share your favorite silver linings in the Write Without the Fight FB group.