As we near the end of 2020, how will you remember it? There have been thousands, if not millions, of reasons to say 2020 sucked and was the worst year in over a century.  You may have personally had to deal with a ton of pain.  While feeling your feelings is important, so is shifting your perspective and not living in a negative mindset.  Finding joy and moments of play can refresh your brain in ways that help you become resilient.  Take this challenge as a stepping stone to reflecting on 2020 in a new light.

1) Find 12 positive events, things, learnings, people, or whatever comes up for you. You could discover a golden nugget for each month. Write them down (on paper, with a writing instrument – not on computer or in your imagination).

2) Find one negative thing that happened to you. Here’s the challenge- can you flip it into a positive?

Mini Adventure Mondays

In the Adventure Wednesdays Explorer Group, I create a “Mini Adventure Monday” post every week.  Members pick a day to commit to having an adventure, and the weekly post is an inspiration.  The responses to this challenge has been uplifting!  People wrote about learning to slow down, to finding creative ways to travel, and learning how to connect with friends and family on deeper levels.

2020 Didn’t Always Suck

Need inspiration for your answers?  To be a good example, I always try the adventures first.  Here are my answers:

1. Tiny living has become a passion of mine.  This year I was paid to learn all about tiny houses on wheels when I had a gig with a tiny house builder. “Tiny House Reality Check”
2. I met a YouTube star through a new friend (Brenda was featured in an episode!) While Jenna was cool, it was developing a friendship with Brenda that I treasure. “Brenda and Just B Tiny“
3. Blue hair? Silver hair? And I don’t live near a big city for a fancy hair colorist…but then I found Fred! He gave me big city talent in a rural town. “Grey Pride”
4. Learned in-depth about cannabis.  2020 offered a rare numerical partnership: 420 (the nickname for marijuana) and 4/20 (April, 2020).  The research for the five blogs I wrote in honor of that month was so much fun (and not from partaking of the wacky weed).
5. Being interviewed for a variety of podcasts was fun.  Even more so was being discovered by an Australian magazine (Tonic) which published my article “How I Coped with Losing My Job“.
6. Explored the Oregon Coast. Despite travel restrictions and wild fires that often limited us, we managed to discover this beautiful state. “Switch it up for the 2020 Holidays”
7. Learned to take my own advice.  When imposter syndrome or the #stayhome blues hit, I remembered my own advice.  Always Be Curious.  How can I do (xyz) differently to see it as a challenge to overcome vs. an obstacle that makes me feel stuck.
8. The geese!  They arrived as babies in March, and I enjoyed becoming their favorite Auntie.  I even joked that they were my new coworkers to chat with over the water cooler.
9. Reconnected with a group where being my authentic self is required.  Thanks to Zoom, I could be with my East Coast buds while physically here on the West Coast.
10. By continuing my entrepreneur education, I discovered a local supportive community.  By summer they whipped up a 10-week program called “RAINmaker Accelerator.”  I have virtually met such a great variety of people. 
11. Due to the rewards of participating in the Oregon RAINmaker entrepreneur program, I will be able to make a dream come true of creating t-shirts for my biz!
12. My biggest sanity-saver has been the renovating of the vintage Airstream (Wednesday the Airstream Adventuremobile) that will, one day, be my home and my roving office. 

Flipping the Negative

Part two of the Challenge asks you to use your Adventure Mindset and find something negative from 2020 and flip it.  What’s the saying? When you change how you look at things, things change. 

What’s one of the big negatives about the precautions for not getting C19?  The travel restrictions.  Adventure isn’t always about travel, but it doesn’t exclude it either.  My big negative was missing my East Coast family.  I know many suffered from this, even if they weren’t 3,000 miles apart.

Step by step, with the help of my family, we overcame each challenge.  I turned my fear of traveling on the plane into a game, including wearing a funny face shield.  We held a socially distant, outdoor 80^th birthday party for my mom.  I took three Covid tests, and used the opportunity to compare how each place handled them (and stayed present to how I felt during them).  I reveled in my digital nomad business and stayed three weeks (using the padding of time in case I needed to quarantine).

Instead of looking at the travel restrictions as obstacles, we flipped it into a maze to figure out to get me from point A to point B, with some great connections, laughter and love along the way.

Take the Challenge

Why not take the time during the next weather storm or pandemic shut down to review your 2020 year?  Find your golden nuggets among all the rocks.  Inspire others by sharing your answers – here or even over your next video reunion.