UNITED STATES—There are SO MANY people out there who CANNOT wait till 2020 is left in the past and we can usher in 2021. I think I can agree with that sentiment as well. With that said, we have to remember 2020 is a year unlike any other year this country has ever seen. With that said, that does not mean the chaos; the madness and the stress we encountered in 2020 will just disappear because 2021 has arrived.

That is NOT the case America, so please be aware of that because I think so many people are forgetting about that. COVID-19 is not over; yes we have two vaccines being rolled out and people are getting the vaccine, but there are still millions of Americans who have to get the vaccine as well, and likely will NOT see it until the spring at the earliest.

With that said, we still have to social distance and be careful of our surrounding. Heck, I recently had a scare with COVID-19 where someone was exposed, I was worried that I may have been exposed at had to get a COVID-19 test and quarantine as a precaution. I did not have COVID-19, but I am slightly under the weather battling a cold. Yeah, go figure the possible flu of all things. I think I’ve had the flu one time before and when I had it maybe 2-3 years ago it was a doozy. Why? I was sick for like 2 weeks people. Congestion, cough, sore throat, I just felt terrible, it was the worst I had felt in years and I was so happy to get that infection out of my body.

And before you ask, I did not get the flu vaccine because I don’t understand getting a vaccine that ultimately leads to me still getting the flu. What type of vaccine still allows you to get the flu? Please explain to me because it makes absolutely no sense America. I learned two major lessons in 2020: 1) Americans are very giving people 2) Money should be cherished.

During the holidays people tend to give more than ever, but in 2020 we say people who were really able to give open their wallets, their homes and all the resources in their arsenal to help those who were in desperate need. That just makes one’s heart so full in my opinion. Now on the flip side, the money aspect has taught me and so many I know that having an emergency fund on top of the emergency fund matters so much. There are people who struggle and live paycheck to paycheck, and when those extra stimulus checks and unemployment income started rolling in people used that money to pay off debt and to stack money.

Smart, very smart and perhaps something that people need to get out of the red and into the black because how else would they get caught up on bills if they were out of work, if anything the bills would just continue to stack up America, and that’s the last thing you want because once that hole gets too deep it is hard to crawl out of it. The year 2020 has taught us things can be unpredictable, but bonding with family and friends during difficult times matter. Yes we were not able to see them face-to-face, for most of us we had to rely on speaking to them via phone and utilizing zoom to see people we love face-to-face.

There was a lot of negativity in 2020, so here’s hoping positive thoughts and positive things reign supreme for 2021, we can only hope.