Months back, I can’t remember exactly where, I saw a meme to the effect of “bloggers need to NOT do their 2020 wrapups this year – we don’t want to see it.” I thought it was funny, but as I think back to it, I disagree.
And though I’m sure, as always, there’ll be a mix of people who do wrapups and people who don’t … I want to encourage you to wrapup your life.
I want to encourage you to make a “paper trail” in blog format – or on your social media, or in an email, or wherever it is that you post wrapups. I want to encourage you that your life is still worth sharing about it.
Even in spite of 2020. In fact, maybe BECAUSE of 2020.
Why should you share about your year?
Well, there’s not any one, definitive reason, but here’s why I still plan on posting a 2020 Recap at the end of this month.
Because you’ll want to look back on this time in ten years – or even one year!
Am I the only one who looks back on my yearly wrapups again and again? I’ve always enjoyed doing them, and I’m very glad that I have them to read over!
Why would this be any different in 2020? We all know that trying to forget our past is not a healthy way to deal with it.
Besides, the hardest years are often the wrapups I enjoy the most! It may be difficult to look back over the year, especially if it was disappointing to you, but I believe that not memorializing 2020 will be a mistake you’ll regret.
Because there are unique facets of your story.
I know, I know. You’re probably like, “Why should I post a wrapup of 2020? My story is literally the same as everyone else’s. I stayed inside for a year.”
Well … no. That’s not true. Trust me, your experiences with 2020 have been unique.
I mean, I managed to get an eye infection and break up with my long-time crush/short-time boyfriend and bid the best piece of my childhood family property goodbye and … Basically, 2020 has been a year.
But I also wrote a lot, organized my life, had some great work experiences, learned the true strength of my character (I ain’t gonna give up my beliefs even if everyone else disagrees, suffice to say!), and had a lot of growing experiences.
I’m sure you have stories, accomplishments, and so on to share! You won’t know until you sit down and try to write them out.
Because sadness needs to be discussed.
Okay, let’s assume for a moment that you only have negative stories and experiences from 2020. Let’s assume nothing happy happened all year.
Well, that still deserves to be talked about! Because in sadness, you grow. In sadness, you get to choose your reaction – it can be positive or negative – and that choice is what makes you a stronger person.
Because we need to acknowledge our losses.
I’m sick of being told that the only losses this year were either “someone died of an illness” or “someone was mildly inconvenienced.”
This is not true. The losses were much more manifold this year, and though many of them were directly or indirectly related to the shutdowns, most of them did not have to do with the loss of life due to Covid-19.
This is more than “either someone dies or someone is mildly inconvenienced.” We’re talking mental health. We’re talking growing suicide rates. We’re talking broken families. We’re talking destroyed economies. We’re talking lives ruined.
And we need to stop looking the other way! We need to be honest about what we have lost. Because if we do not admit that there are problems with our current system, change will not happen.
Because we need to look back on 2020 so we can prepare to have a better 2021.
This may look different for everyone. For me, it means steeling myself to rebel.
It means preparing to go to jail if I must – because I would rather continue to fight for a country where I can have the rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” none of which I’m being granted.
Because I want to be able to worship as I please. Because I want to be allowed to meet with like-minded people where and when I please.
Basically, everything we rebelled against England for has been unceremoniously ripped away from us, and we’ve not made a peep. And I’m not going to back down.
However, for someone else, this might just mean preparing to go through another year, whatever it brings. And that’s important!
Because it’s what you’ve always done.
Normalcy is a tricky thing. In general, I say it’s different for everyone, and it’s not the government’s job to enforce it. In fact, “normal” shouldn’t be enforced. It should be a matter of personal definition.
When it comes to our blogging … I personally believe that changing what you normally do just because the year threw different things at you doesn’t make sense.
However, it’s up to you. Is it more comforting for you to adjust your blogging schedule to reflect a year that was just too different? Or is that same old wrapup going to help you feel more grounded, more normal?
The choice is, of course, up to you!
As a sidenote, I’m switching the day that my bi-weekly blog post is coming out on! Obviously. And, of course, trying to make my “bi-weekly” post more bi-weekly. (Though honestly this month we might end up with more than two posts, depending.)
I think Wednesday is a good day for a post, but we shall see if this shifts over time!
Also, I got an announcement:
I’m part of a giveaway!
“We want you to have a chance to win 45+ of books or a $500 Amazon card to buy a ton of books yourself in the Celebrate Lit 2nd Annual Merry Christmas Giveaway!”
Click here to enter: https://promosimple.com/ps/102df/2nd-annual-merry-christmas-readers
TTFN!
~Kell~
P.S.
So what do you think, folks? Are you doing a year wrapup wherever you previously did a year wrapup? Or is that just not your thing?
18 Responses
“Basically, everything we rebelled against England for has been unceremoniously ripped away from us, and we’ve not made a peep. And I’m not going to back down.” Amen
I’m actually kinda amused at all the complaining about 2020. The only thing that made it terrible for me was losing two grandparents to cancer, not the virus that shall not be named (read: regardless of the year, they would have passed), and the masks. Which do nothing but make me feel lightheaded and give me anxiety. Yay.
So yes, I will be giving a 2020 wrap up and nope, it will not be talking about how terrible this year was. Because this quite frankly has been one of the best years of my life! GOD IS STILL GOD, HE’S NOT UP FOR REELECTION! HE IS IN CONTROL! HALLELUJAH!
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Aw, I'm sorry about your grandparents! It's so rough losing a grandparent. :-/ But yup, a lot of the things that happened to me were unrelated to 2020, such as there were.
For me it was just a "meh" year. But that's not different than normal! And I think I've learned a lot from it, too.
Yesssss, I agree!! (Only please don’t got to jail xP)
I’m excited to do my wrap-up, tbh…
Yes, I am, too! I was just reading over my 2019 wrapup and getting excited. (And don’t worry – I shall only do so if actually necessary. I won’t show up at the prison pre-cuffed. 😛 )
THIS THIS THIS *happy dance cause I think it fits the mood* 2020 was definitely not perfect (and also I can’t write wrapups…) but I’m super happy with my “wrapup” post because reasons, there’s no reason to act like it was all bad when some of the most amazing stuff happened…
Totally agree! There were some amazing things about 2020 – and yeah, there’s a lot to discuss!
Thank you for this post! Amazing things and semi-awful things have happened to me this year, but I’m kind of thankful for all (or at least most) of it. God has been good. And that’s why I’m planning to do at least two different ‘end of year’ type posts. 😀
Awesome! Hope it goes well for you! 😀
YESSSSSSSSSSS. It boggles my mind how everyone thinks that people who want their jobs back are selfish. Uh, no, THEY NEED TO EAT AND KEEP A ROOF OVER THEIR HEADS AND ALSO FEED THEIR KIDS AND WHATNOT.
Plus the government doesn’t even HAVE the right to decide who does or doesn’t work, or to interfere with how or where we worship AT ALL. I get wanting to obey the authorities, but when those authorities are actually breaking the law, alongside telling you to go against God’s commands to gather together in worship, that’s a problem. They also shouldn’t have a say in our healthcare, cause our health is our health and it’s up to us to decide how we take care of it.
I also find social distancing to be ridiculous, because all it’s done is hurt people mentally, emotionally, and even physically! Hugging is actually healthy; it releases a few chemicals that relieve stress and it relaxes your muscles.
And keeping people isolated from their loved ones is just wrong. People can literally DIE from loneliness. People HAVE died from loneliness. Whether suicide or by just giving up…
I’m so tired of it.
Totally agree with all the above! It’s just a whole hot mess, and people need to start SAYING SO! And then actually acting on it. I know the people who believe these things are, well, conservatives – and conservatives are conservative with their voices, too. But we can’t be that way if we want to make any legitimate change in the systems we’ve been forced under!
I know! From my knowledge, people are already acting by keeping their businesses open, but we need MORE people acting.
Not so much here – some people have considered it, but they wouldn’t be able to stay open with the fines. (They could go to court over it, yes, but that would be difficult for the smaller businesses.) One of our local restaurants decided to stay open, but they were told their licenses would be revoked, they would be fined $90 for every person they served on the premises, and eventually, it would mean arrest. The bullying was pretty bad! 🙁 I wish they could afford to just DO IT, but of course they’re already pretty bankrupt from the previous shutdowns … their hands are kinda tied. I wish we could all get behind them and just help them work through it!
I agree that if you want to do a wrapup, you should do a wrapup. Ignoring things and trying to pretend they never happened doesn’t make them go away or make them better. So. I’m going to do a wrapup, but honestly? 2020 wasn’t a terrible year for me. Yes, my family has suffered a loss, but it wasn’t due to covid. Other than inconveniences and the scarcity of certain items (toilet paper), my family wasn’t really affected, praise God. My heart and prayers go out to those more deeply affected than us, though. 🙏
Ummm… this was supposed to be a new comment, not replying. I do not know how I made this happen… 🤦♀️🤷♀️
Don’t worry about it!
Yup, exactly! Ignoring things never helps anyone.
Thank you for your words, Kellyn! I really appreciate that you’ve been steeling yourself to rebel–I’ve been doing the same these past several months. Going to jail, for me, seems unlikely at this point, because I don’t go many places to make a ruckus, but I think it’s great to acknowledge the possibility, and stand anyway. Especially in Oregon …
CutePolarBear
For sure! I don’t get out a ton either, but it’s illegal for us to have more than six people in our home, and we do that all the time, sooo?