What if 2020 is just practice for something more?

Let's pretend for a minute that we are getting ready...

it could be a sport, presentation, meal, conversation, breakup, trip, drive.  

We all have different processes that we go through to get ready for the "game".  

When I was playing basketball, there was a phrase my coach would yell over us.  It wasn't during the beginning to get us pumped up, or at the end when we were headed to the locker room.  The coach would always choose the moment in practice when every one of us was doubled over, gassed tired from drills.  Sweat would be flowing down my face, my shirt saturated, and I would hear

"Practice should and will always be harder than the game!"

Like a prophesy over each of us, a promise that he would share, our coach never let that phrase go.  Because when the practice got harder, we were becoming better prepared for what was to come.  

I think about coach when I think about 2020.

Could 2020 be practice for a game that is still coming?  This practice has been tough in all areas of life.  The question is are you using this practice to prepare for the game, or are you using it as an excuse to quit? 

I had the opportunity to listen to Erwin Mcmanus at the Lead Positive conference and he shared this thought 
“Will you be a victim of your environment or a creator of your future?”

This should be on every meme, gif and social media post around the world.  

2020 isn't a dumpster fire!  2020 is meant to prepare us for something more!

If you look at 2020 as an opportunity for change, hope, and creation, everything changes.

Are you "forced" to work from home?  What can you improve with your relationships at home? 

Are you teaching remotely?  How are you being the example of authentic learning to your students?  Are you showing them moments of failure and how to persevere, think creatively and adapt into something more? 

If we go off of my coaches logic, than 2020 is our opportunity to work harder and prepare more!  What have you created this year that has changed the world?  How have you brought positive energy into a dark time in our world's history?  What dreams and inspirations have come to you that you would never have seen happen? 

Mcmanus also said in his talk, "Crises are the destabilization of all the things that you think you need."

What has been broken that you realize you didn't need? How have you taken the challenge of this year and found an ability to thrive? 

2020 isn't over.  How are you practicing for what 2021 could bring?