The gift of 2020.

2020 has been enlightening, thought-provoking, validating, and downright exceptional in all the best and worst ways.

But one thing stands unique among the rest. The unexpected gift of personal connection in the absence of physical connection, connections that would be put off in any other year because of distance, time, culture, or geography. But instead, this year enabled a new kind of connection with so many different people from so many places around the world. People who are doing amazing work, hard work, and whose ideas are important, valuable and necessary for the advancement of humanity. People who are motivated by the belief that we can be better, do better, and who know that to be human is to be strength, weakness, and vulnerability at once. People who understand that growth and learning is about adapting, changing, and being open to new frontiers that might otherwise be left undiscovered. This is the gift of 2020.

So, I thank you 2020. I thank you for allowing me to learn from you, from my students, my clients, my old and new friends and for entrusting me with your valuable time. I have zoomed through this year, literally and figuratively, with a full heart, loads of gratitude, an endless wealth of new learnings, and a piercing clarity.

2021, it’s time.

Originally published at https://www.kristirible.com on January 2, 2021.