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?