Making Sense of Pizza in 2020

I saw this meme the other day:

Once you understand why pizza is baked round, packed in a square box, and eaten as a triangle, then you will understand 2020.

I thought about that for a bit. I’m still not sure that it makes sense. And maybe that’s the point—that 2020 made little sense. At least, not in the ways we’ve been used to.

In 2020, our existential, social, and political lives collided with the force of an interstellar event.

2020 reacquainted us with our entire range of human emotions.

We’ve experienced shock, anger, compassion, grief, hope, joy, even boredom, and more.

We bemoan living alone, and lament living with others day-in and day-out.

We’ve laughed and we’ve cried.

We’ve lost jobs and created new ones.

We’ve prayed for the sick to recover and mourned those who didn’t.

We’ve baked bread, made videos, binged The Queen’s Gambit (and if you haven’t, do it!) and learned to meditate.

Our roles as professionals, parents, and family members have merged, morphed and magnified.

We’ve reconnected with people to whom we hadn’t spoken in years, and we’ve let go of people who once occupied our daily lives.

We’ve developed resilience, discovered new motivation, called upon our creativity, and reinvented ourselves and our ways of doing business.

In March 2020, we thought we’d be “back to normal” in two weeks. Two weeks turned into two months. Then we hoped that summer would relieve us. When that didn’t pan out, we looked forward to returning to work and school in September.

It’s December 2020.

It’s been a busy and surreal year.

This year has been, in large part, about making sure to survive. Sometimes, survival is all that matters.

I, for one, am ready to move beyond survival mode, toward a meaningful 2021. Who’s with me?

Here are a few questions to kick us off:

1.       What are your 3-5 (or 10) core values? Our core values are the drivers that motivate us to move beyond “survive,” and upgrade to “thrive.” Not sure what your core values are? This values assessment may help.

2.       Is your work aligned with at least one of your core values? When our work and our values aren’t aligned, this puts a major ding in our happiness and wellbeing. The good news is that upleveling our satisfaction doesn’t necessarily require radical reinvention. Small tweaks can yield major life upgrades. Expressing our values in our day-to-day experience is one easy way to do that.  

3.       Is there something that you’ve dreamt of doing or have aspired to, that remains tucked in your “future” file? The future has arrived. What actions will bring you closer to embodying that goal you’ve been putting off? Want a sounding board? Let’s speak.

And let’s make better sense of 2021 together.

Dare to thrive,

Judith