Everybody Just Be Cool, Okay?
We did it. We made it through 2020. So, why do I feel like I’m going to throw up?
I feel like l’m about to get the keys to a shiny new car and I’m so afraid I’m going to ruin it. I just want us all to tiptoe into 2021 whistling casually, pretending everything is TOTALLY COOL AND FINE because, if we make any sudden moves, something fucked up is going to happen immediately. Can you relate?
Yes, I am scared. But since I’ve been working on my abundance thinking and trying not to succumb to the binary (2020 = BAD), I took some time to think about the positive things that happened in 2020.
It wasn't all bad. Even the parts that were terrible taught us about how we can forge a more just, sustainable future.
It woke many people up to how much we depend on our communities and how deeply we suffer when we can't connect.
It showed many of us what we really need and what we can live without.
It taught many of us that cultivating joy can be a tool of survival.
It expanded and grew new platforms for voices that have been tirelessly advocating for racial justice, policing abolition, mutual aid, reparations, and wealth redistribution.
It gave non-disabled people a taste of what it's like to live with limitations and medical uncertainty.
It revealed about a billion weak spots that are key to subverting white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.
For some, these were painful lessons. For others, these weren't lessons at all; nothing had been "revealed," but new opportunities arose to bring more people into long-sustained movements.
2020 was heartbreaking, devastating, and infuriating. But there were paradigm shifts, and I'm choosing to believe there was progress.
The last Feminist Hotdog episode of 2020 with Lutze B. Segu offers plenty of inspo for how we can all help continue that progress by deepening our feminist thinking and practice in 2021. It’s a loving call to action, and the perfect way to bring in the new year.
On a personal note, 2020 brought me to a new home in new state, gave me time to finish my book manuscript, and helped me find a more compassionate relationship with my body. I watched more TV than I ever have IN MY LIFE, and I actually didn’t hate it. Those are things to celebrate, even if the celebration is more muted than in new years’ past.
2020 also allowed me to get to know a number of you better, and for that I am incredibly grateful. Once I get over my nervousness about 2021, I look forward to finding new ways to connect and build our community in the months to come.
Thank you, as always, for reading. Wishing you so much love, joy, health, peace, money, and laughter in 2021.