On January first the clock struck midnight and the ball dropped starting the year of 2020. Expectations of a promising year were crushed when the ball dropped all kinds of chaos and disaster that shook the whole world unlike anything that we had ever seen.

I could report the many tragedies of the year, number of lives that were lost, isolation and not being able to see loved ones, the students that missed some of their final memories of High School or College, Athletes not being able to compete, movies and show sets being put on hold. Australian bush fires, Murder Hornets, no toilet paper. The list seems to go on and on.

The hardships of this year have taken a toll, not just on me. I see it in the people I love, and even in strangers. The weariness this year has caused is prevalent in everyone’s life.  I look back and scroll through the calendar and the events of this past year in my own life, and I realized the most documented times were the bad parts. I knew there was more to this year than just the pain, and the suffering. In my life, and in the world. Sometimes seeing the good, or finding the good is hard, especially when everything else seems so dark. I had to search for the good, and I found some miracles in midst of madness.

Here are some highlights of the year:

January 26: Billie Eilish wins five Grammys. One of the youngest winners of the Grammy’s top awards (record, song and album of the year, and best new artist).

February 2: The Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers, 31-20 in Super Bowl LIV. The Chiefs’ fist victory in 50 years. Jennifer Lopez and Shakira rocked the half-time show.

February 17: Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO pledges $10 billion to help climate change.

March 11: the smallest dinosaur skull was discovered in a mine in Myanmar

March 20: The release of the hit show the Tiger King, reaching a minute audience of 280,000 U.S viewers.

April 19: Lady Gaga is a part of a Together at Home Concert for Covid-19 aid, and it was streamed world-wide.

May 30: SpaceX Crew was launched into space from American Soil, not from NASA but funded by Elon Musk to pursue his dream of sending “colonists to Mars.”

June 28: 50th anniversary of the first Pride March

July 24: Taylor Swift’s album Folklore was released, and becomes the best-selling album of of 2020, created from Swift’s home in Nashville.

August 19: Apple becomes the first U.S company to reach a net worth of $2 trillion.

September 4: Live action Mulan was released on Disney Plus.

October 14: William Shakespeare’s First Folio is sold for $9.98 million at an auction in New York.

November 3: A record amount of voters for this years presidential election. Also elected the first ever African American woman Vice- President; Kamala Harris

December 21: Jupiter and Saturn aligned to create the ‘Great’ Conjunction, or otherwise known as the Christmas Star. This is visible every 20 years.

Twelve months, and in each something to be remembered, something that impacted our lives. Something that stood out and made the world better. This year will go down in history, but it’s important to remember that there are always highlights, there is always something to be grateful for.

This year was a time of reflection, a time of pain, a time of helplessness, but most importantly a time of change. People can go on and on about the changes that didn’t seem to benefit their lives, but the challenge is to look at the changes that were unforeseen, that ended up being a blessing. We had to learn how to adapt, and how to succeed even when faced with extreme amounts of doubt and adversity. This year has made us all grow stronger.

With the New Year just around the corner it’s important to remember and reflect. And also to realize that the saying “New Year, New Me” is not always going to come easy. Everything will not magically fix itself when the ball drops. It will take work, but it will get better. Let 2021 be the redemption you seek, and potential you  reach.