Looking Forward to the New Year

I've shared this image before, but it's one of my favorites from 2020 - Captured with a LUMIX G9, 14-140mm lens and a Platypod Max, down in the sand. Nokomis Beach in Florida at sunset.

by Skip Cohen

***WARNING*** It's the first Sunday morning of the new year, and as a creature of habit - I ALWAYS go off the topics of business and marketing in imaging.  

As the year came to a sort of eerie close, I found myself looking back over 2020 - especially the last nine months. Sheila and I, being in one of the higher risk groups for Covid, have stayed isolated from contact with friends. We didn't cut ourselves off from the social side via phone, Skype, Zoom, email, and even talking with neighbors from a distance - but we love to entertain and haven't had anybody over; nor have we gone to anybody's home, or for that matter out to dinner.

While the holidays were a little strange, being just Sheila and me, they were extraordinary. Being together 24/7, we've talked more than ever. We've shared ideas, stories of the past, and our hopes for the future. The holidays became a celebration of our ability to adapt. At the same time, I've noticed something about me - my friends have become more important than ever before. I often end a phone call with "Love ya Buddy," words that previously would have only been reserved for family.

So what's my point this Sunday morning? The pandemic has changed everything in our lives, but here and there, it's made things better. I've grown to realize how vital so many different people are in my life. Keeping in touch has become an art form. While I hate how they do so many things, Facebook has become an essential part of staying in contact with both old and new friends.

And Zoom, Skype, Facetime, and the phone are necessities to staying in touch. While I miss contact and those eleven-second therapeutic hugs I used to write about - they're still there - just out in cyberspace. On a podcast a short time back, I was asked, "What do you miss the most?" My answer, "Bumping into people...literally."

Those days will come back if we just have faith and use common sense in fighting Covid. And when they do come back - the lessons we've learned in 2020 will become invaluable building blocks for life with, as hokey as it sounds, more substance.

Wishing everybody an amazing close to the New Year's weekend. Stay focused on the importance of keeping in touch with friends and family. While we've all spent a lot of quality time looking in the rearview mirror and learning to cherish the good old days, it's time to look forward, take what we've learned in 2020 and start building a new future.

Yeah, it sounds pretty lofty - but it really is about faith and a quote I've shared before: 

Faith is being sure of what you hope for
and certain of what you do not see.