What a Year It's Been: 7 Lessons I Learned in 2020
Oh my god! What a shit show. 2020 was hopefully the final installment of Lemony Snicket's: A Series of Unfortunate Events. There were surely no shortage of hardships this year, but with that being said, in this blog post I want to focus exclusively on the positives. So if you’re feigning for more negativity, close this and turn on your TV.
In my journal (and in my own head) I often repeat the same things over and over again. I hope to turn these phrases into life lessons that I take from 2020 into 2021 and beyond. Enjoy this Spotify Wrapped year in review of my thoughts about the strangest year on spaceship Earth. Twenty-twenty.
Experimentation: At the start of 2020 I read Range by David Epstein. It’s hard to overstate the impact this book had on the trajectory of my year. Range taught me that discovering your passion comes through action, that failure is the best way to learn and the irrelevance of asking: who am I? We humans are verbs, not nouns. Our ability to adapt is unparalleled, look at the ingenuity of small businesses throughout the pandemic. I’d recommend this book to someone who is feeling lost and can’t seem to find their purpose. If you want a sneak peek of the ideas in the book check out this podcast or the video I made about Range: "I can't find my passion"
“We learn who we are—in practice, not in theory.”
Enjoy life: While you still have it. 2020 revealed how fragile our existence is- not only as individuals- but also as a collective. Enjoy life came from this clip of Kobe Bryant. His untimely death is a tragic example of the fragility that we all exist upon. RIP to a legend. Enjoy life is a reminder to not take things so seriously. I’ve come to realize that laughter is my medicine of choice. Ask yourself: What’s the point of this whole thing if we can’t have fun?
The Who & What: I began the year with a lofty goal of moving to New York City but ended up living most of the year in Lewiston, MI. From the extended time in Lewiston (Population: 1,177) I learned that location doesn’t matter to me as much as I’d previously thought. Instead, the who and what are most important: Who am I with? What am I able to do here? Living in a highly-populated city can really limit you in certain ways. Not gonna lie, I’d still love to experience big city life, but just not long term. It’s interesting how I came to that conclusion from living in the polar opposite of a big city. I feel extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend so much time in the great outdoors of northern Michigan. Special thank you to the Austin family for letting me be an honorary member of your family during quarantine! I also learned that I need to live somewhere with high speed internet haha.
Embracing all sides of you: There was a meme this year that spoke to me on a spiritual level. It’s the one pictured above, the trend was to put four different photos of yourself to illustrate how differently you act on each social media platform. Personally, I've struggled with trying to balance having both a serious and goofy side. Strangely enough I think TikTok made me comfortable with joking around more often in my YouTube videos. I also took note of Jocko Willink, a retired Navy Seal and who is a total goofball with his online presence. The meme reminds me that we're human and humans are complex. I hate the LinkedIn-ification of social media in which everyone is trying to be professional while the President of the United States of America is tweeting crazy shit. I’m not saying everybody needs to be an influencer but I miss the days when people weren’t as afraid to share their actual thoughts, jokes and opinions. FYI, that’s the only cigarette I’ve ever smoked.
Can we make this more fun?
Going Virtual: We learned the hard way that going virtual is no substitute for real life. I hope we can remember how bad this year sucked so in the future we don’t take normal life for granted. I’m looking forward to going to as many concerts as possible and sweating on strangers. There are certain things that screens can’t replace but that Travis Scott concert on Fortnite was LIT! This year I rediscovered my love for gaming and the Internet. It still amazes me that we can befriend people from around the world all because of this Internet thing. I’m truly a gamer at heart and but we please leave euchre in 2020??? THAT GAME SUCKS!!!
Output, not Outcome: You can only get a job if you apply. You can only win a contest if you enter. You can only get seen if you put yourself out there. This phrase was a prompt for me to create more and share online in 2020. I think I did an alright job. If I were religious I’d have the phrase “Let Go and Let God” tattooed across my back. It’s true though. You can’t control outcomes and you’ll drive yourself crazy trying to. If you’re doing the whole art thing you’ve got to show your work to people. The good news is that the upside of sharing on the Internet is unlimited. No, I didn’t win any of the contests that I entered, but I view this as a war of attrition. All I do is output, and I’ll leave the rest up to the powers at be. Kudos to my friends that are putting themselves out there online! Keep going.
“When you grow up you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it… Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”
Face your dreams: I’m sure you’ve heard people say chase your dreams or face your fears. Face your dreams is my remix of those clichés. The things that I most want to do are often the most difficult. Doesn’t that seem backwards? It’s crazy but it’s true. This year I took the leap and started my first business, ANHUDY LLC. I overcame some serious imposter syndrome in doing that. I was amazed at how simple and easy the process of starting an LLC was, yet it took me years to muster up the courage to do so. Who am I to start a business? Who am I to decide that my photography is good enough to be sold online? Hey, none of that matters now. I know I’ve been doing this whole online content thing for years but it really feels like I’m just getting started!
What a year, I’m glad it’s over. Thank you again for taking an interest in my work throughout the year. Whether it’s the absurd TikToks, long Instagram captions, YouTube videos, email newsletters, etc. Obviously there’s some amount of ego and selfishness involved with creating stuff for the Internet but I truly hope it helps you in some way. Whether it’s a dose of inspiration, a laugh, or just some guy to make fun of.
Some people have an aversion towards the classic New Years resolution so I recommend doing a past year review. In short, you go through your calendar and categorize experiences as either positive or negative. Admittedly, this might not work as well when looking back through 2020 because so much of it was outside of our control but I know that a lil reflection won’t hurt ya.
Love,
andrewww / anhudy
Use code “2020sucked" for 21% off until Jan 2, but shh don’t tell anyone else. Here’s to a fresh start and a new year.
Photo taken in Gaylord, MI that encapsulates the absurdity of 2020.
favs of 2020
This part is so I can look back in 40 years when I’m 63 and see what kinda shit I was into at the time.
Album: 'Good Intentions – Brown Boy 2' by NAV
Song: That Way by Lil Uzi Vert
Movie: Uncut Gems
Podcast episode: #473: Naval Ravikant on Happiness, Reducing Anxiety, and Crypto Strategy
Book: Range by David Epstein
Lyric: I cannot tell 'em my mind / I even think when I sleep / I told them goodnight around 9 / But I stayed up for the next week (Ooh) / I fell in love with my goals / I know how to motivate me / They asked who that on my shirt / I said that's my logo baby / What am I wearing? Me, mhm / Who is you hearin'? Me, mhm / Who don't give a fuck? Me, ooh / Who do I love? Me, bitch! Lingo Starr: DRUNKEN MASTER by tobi lou
