16 Dec The Top 5 Things I’ve Learned In 2020
There is a meme going around Facebook that goes something like this…
“I don’t normally stay up until midnight on New Year’s Eve, but I’m going to this year. Not because I want to see 2021 come in but I want to make sure that 2020 leaves!”
To say this year has been challenging would be the understatement of all time. There is no question that we have all been on a roller coaster ride since about March 11. But with the year finally winding down and good news on the horizon about potential vaccines, I thought it would be a good time to take a humorous look and the top 5 things that I have learned in 2020.
#1. Sales of Washing Detergent reached an all-time low.
When you wear the same thing 2-3 days a week and start to look at pajamas as formal wear, there is not as much laundry to be done at the end of the week. I understand there are thousands of moms out there who would strongly disagree with me, but when you can get by with one or two outfits for the week there just aren’t as many clothes to wash. I’m pretty sure my wife did not wear anything other than Soffe shorts and a tank top for about 10 weeks. And she used the same sweater to throw on when she had a Teams call and had to turn on the camera.
#2. Middle school kids are incredibly creative.
I lost count of the number of times I was laughing at a post of kids doing online learning. My favorite was the 8th-grade class that changed their screen names to “reconnecting” and then turned off their cameras. The teacher was beside herself – thinking there was an internet outage. Yes, these kids will be in charge of our country in 20 years.
#3. Home décor is nonexistent.
No one really wants to know how your coworkers decorate their homes. But guess what – that cat is out of the bag now. Twenty-four hours of HGTV and this is the best we can do? Too many of us have been shopping at the Buc-ee’s megastores. Or course we had to because Target, Home Goods and TJ Maxx were shut down. The withdrawal pains my wife went through with TJ Maxx being closed were real. And I’ve never seen her happier than when they reopened, and everything was 70-80% off. And yes, that included our wedding day.
#4. The world needs more cookbooks.
Not being able to eat out really put a huge strain on everyone’s ability to mix it up at mealtime. It got to the point where we just didn’t try. We simply just started finding different toppings to put on meatloaf. Seriously – A1 was a nice surprise.
#5. Pets will be in therapy for years to come.
We all love our pets. If you are truly a pet person (dog, cat, turtle, hamster – it doesn’t matter) then you really enjoyed getting to spend more time with your animals. No working late or hiring a dog walker – you were there 24 hours a day to meet their emotional needs. Well guess what – they enjoyed it too. They enjoyed it so much that when you go back to a normal workday – like when you have to get up, shower and put on clothes and leave the house – they are going to be so depressed that you will need to spend thousands on doggie therapy. Check out Marler’s Online Doggy therapy website here.
The good news is the year is almost over. Even in normal times, we all look forward to the new year bringing hope and prosperity to our lives. The way I see it, if we can somehow manage to get through 2020 there is nothing we can’t handle.
From all of us at LightSpeed we wish you the merriest of Christmas and a truly happy and stress-free new year. Your business means everything to us, and we look forward to working with each of you as our industry starts to recover even stronger in 2021.
David Marler
