Goodbye, 2020! We will not miss you!

By Paul Morrone, CFP®, CPA/PFS, MSA

When we wake up tomorrow morning, the world will be much the same. The changing of the date is merely a visual reminder that time stops for nothing. Seeing 2021 on the calendar may feel like an emotional reprieve from the chaos in the rear-view mirror, but aside from that, it will be just another Friday. While we will all remember 2020 for its negative attributes, I do believe some good has come out of it. 

It appears that there has been a bit of a realignment of peoples' priorities (thanks, Terry, for the eloquent wording on that one!). The who, what, where, when, why and how of life has been put front and center this year, by virtue of being faced with, and overcoming, many harsh realities. It has placed a renewed emphasis on who we value and on the quality of the connections we have with family, friends and loved ones. As a society, we’ve reevaluated what is most important in our day-to-day lives. Which, at the core, are the most basic human needs that many, you could argue, have taken for granted up until now (health, safety and a sense of community, to name a few). We have a newfound understanding of where we belong, and the relative importance of physical location, social networks or even the structure of our workplace. Twenty-twenty was a stark reminder of how little control we have over the timing of life’s events and when good and bad things can occur. And finally, it reminded us why it is so important to live every day to its fullest and be thankful for all that we have. Because, in the words of the great Dave Matthews, life is short, but sweet, for certain. 

That brings us to the ‘how?’ How do we move forward? How do we make 2021 a better year than 2020? Candidly, I hope that we can all move forward together with a new perspective on life. I’m going stay positive. More importantly, I’m not going to rush each day in hopes that it will be better than the one before. If we focus too much on tomorrow, we might miss something today, which may sound somewhat ironic coming from a planner whose job is to think about the future. 

I’ve been told countless times by those older and wiser than I that life goes by too quick. It sounds cliché, but the older and wiser I get, the more I understand what they mean. Being a parent of two young children, I’m watching life go by right before my eyes, and it is going by quick. I don’t want to miss a thing.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy new year!

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