My Reasons for Gratitude, 2020

Friday, January 1, 2021
This has been a tough year for gratitude. Between politics, the pandemic and the deaths of people I've long admired or who mean the world to people I care about deeply, I've found myself despairing for the future more than once. And yet, gratitude during such times is more critically important than when things are easy. 

So here's my 2020 gratitude list, and while I had to dig for things to be grateful for, it behooves me and my mental health to meditate on these things, now more than ever. 
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This year the Smart Man and I decided we really needed to accept our status as middle aged people and take better care of our bodies through nutrition and exercise. While we haven't met all of our health goals, we've come a long way this year, and I'm grateful to have the means to join a gym and buy fresh, healthy food to eat.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, our livelihoods were not negatively impacted by the shelter in place and social distancing orders. We both work for companies that supply telecommunications infrastructure. and we work from home even during healthy times, so we really weren't affected economically by the crisis. I know many, many people were not as fortunate, and I'm grateful to be a member of the former group, and to have the means to help those in the second group.
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This year was tough from a mental health perspective, so I decided to start counseling to see if I could achieve some level of peace with my life's circumstances and the world around me. I'm grateful to have this opportunity due to the fact that we have excellent insurance and the ability to save for co-pays without sacrificing our quality of life. 
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This year has been especially difficult for those who work in the healthcare industry, especially those individuals who have cared for COVID patients 24x7. Your dedication to duty, compassion, and fortitude is not unnoticed, and I'm incredibly grateful for you in all that you do. 

Bonus gratitude: These folks keep coming back, day after day, month after month, in spite of the fact that a significant percentage of the population deride them for the scientific knowledge, accuse them of lying and killing people when a patient dies from COVID, and show such an extreme refusal of the scientific facts of the pandemic that healthcare workers feel unvalued, depressed, and despondent. I see you, healthcare workers - your work and generosity of spirit humble me. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all you've done, and will continue to do in this most terrible of times. 
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I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to once again act as an election judge for my county during the November general election. This year I was assigned as an assistant poll manager, and this work brought home to me how very important is the process of representative democracy. I live in a county where my political views are in the minority, and yet it is always a privilege to ensure people get to exercise their franchise in a legal, non-exclusionary way, regardless of their political beliefs, ethnicity, income level, or any other characteristic that is not their status as a citizen of the United States.

Bonus gratitude: Colorado citizens volunteered in record numbers to act as election judges in this election cycle, including many volunteers in the 16-35 age group. As citizens of a representative democracy, we will ever get the government we deserve by exercising our franchise in whatever way our consciouses dictate. Knowing so many Coloradans understand this fundamental truth makes my heart happy. 
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I'm grateful that our country has reached a point where we will elect a BIPOC woman to the Office of the Vice President. When Kamala Harris took the stage to give her victory speech wearing a white suit, I wept with pride and joy at her accomplishment, and reflected with gratitude on all the women who paved the road she walks on. 
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I'm grateful to live in a state whose population voted to enact a state-wide Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance program to ensure Coloradans who experience personal or family medical issues will continue to receive a partial salary when they're off work. This program is expensive - .9% of a worker's wages, matched by their employers - but Coloradans passed it with a margin of almost 15%. This was a mandate on supporting the well-being of others, and I'm so grateful to live in a state that cares about such things. 
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I'm grateful that in spite of the obstacles put before him and the lack of collaboration from the previous president, President-Elect Joe Biden will be sworn in on January 20th, 2021. He was not a perfect candidate by any stretch, but he was a smart and civil candidate, with the character needed to heal our great national divide. If I wasn't an atheist, I would pray for his success. 
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I'm grateful for the vaccines that are becoming available for those in our population who are at the greatest risk. Science is an amazing thing, and vaccines are the single greatest achievement of humanity in the history of the world. 
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As ever, I am grateful to the friends and family who lift me up when I stumble, catch me when I try to fall, look out for my physical and mental wellbeing, and can be counted upon to show in word and deed they are kind, considerate, generous, moral people of good character. I'm so lucky to have all of you in my life, now more than ever. 
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I'm grateful that the dumpster fire of 2020 is over, and look with hope and optimism to the new year and a opportunity to do more and be more of the person I want to become, unencumbered by a deadly pandemic or the poison of the last election cycle. 


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