It's 2021: What Do You See?

I have always wanted 20/20 vision.

I’ve never had it.

I had to start wearing glasses when I was in fifth grade—blue frames that helped me unite with fractions on the board in math class. But the frames did not accessorize my Guess jeans and turtleneck very well. And who wanted to be called “Four Eyes”? So I barely wore them.

When I got contact lenses in junior high, it changed my life. Those days, you had to cook contacts to disinfect them, so I would religiously drop the case into its heater every night and push the black button. But it was an easy chore. I had 20/20 vision.

As I’ve aged, of course, my vision is worsening—now it’s 20/300—I have to stand 20 feet away from something that a person with perfect eyes can see 300 feet away.

But guess what? We all have 2020 vision now. Now that we have lived through that most interesting last year, we can see some things more clearly than ever before.

Now that it’s 2021, what is less fuzzy for you? What do you see more sharply now?

Here is what I see:

1) I am happiest working from home, with less work travel and more space to breathe in my days. I don’t need to be rushing out the door, frantically darting from one meeting to the next to feel fulfilled. There’s very little dashing needed to go from one Zoom to the next.

2) There are cool ways to engage with others in virtual meetings. While it’s harder on the brain than meeting in person, the world will go on, we can foster connection, build relationships, and create engagement.

3) Relationships are more important than ever. I see my partner, my son, my work colleagues, my friends in a different light. Going through a pandemic together, isolating at home, finding ways to connect and social distance—all of that creates new ways of being together. We are discovering ways we can still touch each other and be safe.

4) Equity has new meaning. I have always been passionate about diversity and inclusion, but I now understand more deeply what centuries of racism have done to our country and to people of color. I have a renewed commitment to expand anti-racism and equity efforts in everything I do—and hold this responsibility seriously as a person with white skin.

5) With all this big work to do going forward, I also now see that time is willing to be in a different kind of relationship with me. I used to fight time, wrestle hours to the ground, plead for it to give me more of itself. But this year, time has showed up in new and remarkable ways.

Einstein said that “the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” I can now see this illusion, and live in the now. It's the only time we actually have.

In 2021—the modern age—I no longer have to cook my contacts at night. In fact, my distance vision is so well corrected that I need bifocals to help me see up close. I can see systemic issues and challenges ahead. So I am grateful for my new 2020 vision.

What can you now see more clearly?