2020 was a difficult year for the world as we all suffered financial hardships, loss and emotional pain. It’s hard to find good things that came out of it, but as I think back on my year I realize how 2020 changed me for the better! Below’s a list of things that went right for the year, hopefully you can relate and not completely throw this year into the dumpster.

1. Healthier Lifestyle

Extra time could be a detriment to your life, but in my case (especially with the coronavirus going around) it made me evaluate my health more. The work from home schedule opted me to prepare healthier lunches. Gone are the days of grabbing Chipotle and eating it at my desk. Instead I replaced fries with fruit, burgers with bagels. It’s helped with curbing the after-lunch coma I used to get from eating such a heavy meal. High cholesterol runs in my family and we’ve had a history of heart problems, which my doctor reminded me at my yearly checkup this year. He advised saturated fats were to blame, I get the sweet tooth from my dad. This was a hard one, as I love ice cream, cake or cookies at night. I cleared out all those to replace them with something more healthy like yogurt, trail mix and granola. I’ve noticed I’m not as jittery when I wake up, sugar highs are overrated! I also felt like it was a good time to do my research on vitamins. Studies have shown that vitamin D helps fight back covid, which I added that in with a reliable men’s multi-vitamin.

One of the thrilling parts of getting more healthy was rediscovering my love for biking. Each Sunday I’d take out Dennis (named by and inherited from my late Uncle who used to ride it all over Chicago) to a new part of NYC. It’s crazy how far you can go once you zone out, put a podcast on and keep pedaling. The longest I rode was from Upper East Side to Sprain Ridge Park in Yonkers (36 miles round trip) that has some sick mountain bike trails by the way! I continued to workout even in lockdown with a barbell, tote bags and gallons of water. It’s interesting how you can get more creative with less.

Photo by Stephanie Ho from Pexels

2. Passion Projects

Still, even with having a healthy lifestyle consume a good portion of my day I still had more free time than I wanted. I started to plan out projects I’ve been putting off for years. One which was to paint my bedroom, blue-ish purple with a white strip going across the top to open the space up more in case you were wondering. While performing stand-up comedy was put on hold this year, I made sure to continue to write jokes on my notes app in my phone. This created more of a desire to write more which by year end I’ve written a book (more to come about this in 2021) and my roommate and I have an outline ready to script out for a short film I thought of. Can’t forget to mention more writing by blogging on Medium at least once a month. It’s been challenging me in ways to write and think of different topics to cover, further aiding my writing skills. With all of the bashing of NYC and how it’s dead, I felt the urge to create a community page on Instagram and Facebook to show all the reasons why NYC will never die. Give us a follow at @newyorkcitywillneverdie.

YouTube channel InTheMoney

3. Tutorials

Working from home has many benefits compared schlepping to the office. Midday naps, getting laundry done, saving money on lunch, etc. But one of the downsides was I watching watching way too much tv. After a few months into lockdown I decided to switch things up to keep my brain from becoming reality show mush. Everyday I made it a goal to learn something new. Best way to do so is YouTube tutorials! During lunch I watch a video about topics I wanted to learn more about. This year I’ve learned new strategies for social media marketing, SEO, website development, video design, freelancing tips to the stock market. Just a quick tip, best to watch the videos that are 20 minutes or less. That way you don’t drain your attention span. One of my favorite guys to learn from is Adam at InTheMoney. His straight forward, plain english discussions about trading stocks and options has helped me tremendously with utilizing my portfolio. Definitely give him a watch if you’re interested in investing, which brings me to my fourth reason 2020 was awesome…

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

4. Investing

One of the biggest (and most profitable) things I loved about 2020 was learning how to invest in the stock market. When the market crashed in March it was the perfect time to add money to companies I felt would weather the storm. Most of them already bounced back with their stock prices back to normal, but there’s still many out there that are good to buy some stocks from. Airlines, Tech, Cannabis, Pharma and Auto are some of the categories I have my chips in. Plus crypto still continues to push up as they supposedly won’t be a victim of inflation.

The stock market isn’t the only thing I’ve invested in. The other crucial one is myself. Investing more time to promote my design studio and each month I’ve gradually gained more freelance projects. It’s important to showcase your skills to your circle as most people won’t know what you’re good at. Networking is key. If there’s one thing we’ve learned this year is we shouldn’t totally depend on our full time jobs for your income and identity. The more fishing poles you have out to cast the more fish you’ll catch!

My family, yes that’s a bunny I’m holding!

4. Quality Time

Last but not least of what I loved about 2020 is my newfound appreciation of quality time. This year I believe we all had to take a step back and look at not only what’s important in our life but who’s important. Family time whether it was in person or facetime’d was cherished more. I reached out to quite a few friends I haven’t talked to in years to show them I’m still here for them. Even if it was a simple short text to say ‘Hey how are you doing?’ Before I’d be moving so fast with my own life and priorities I think back like damn I was a little selfish. Life is short, make sure to make time for the people that care for you.

That’s my take on this year as I’m always an eternal optimist. How has 2020 shaped you for the better? Feel free to leave a comment to share.