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From the Broomfield Chamber of Commerce
Learning from 2020 and Carrying Lessons Forward
By Sam Taylor, Broomfield Chamber of Commerce President
It’s a brand new year and for many that means resolutions and a chance to make a difference in the coming year. 2020 tried us in ways that we could never have imagined just 365 short days ago and for most of us that means if we made any resolutions last year, many of them were not met.
Did you plan on losing weight in 2020? Ha! Most of us saw our waistline increase because our social patterns have been severely impacted. Was your resolution to find a new job? Many people lost theirs through no fault of their own and are still looking for a new one. Whatever your resolutions were, surviving a pandemic was probably not on your list of 2020 goals.
But it is a brand new year and if we take the hard lessons learned from 2020 and apply them forward, we can make even better resolutions this year for ourselves and society. Did you promise to keep in touch with family members who live far away? Many people have now learned how to do video calls, and while not as satisfying as in person contact, these calls can be more personal than a text or phone call. Learning new skills is a popular resolution and for many of us Zoom, WebEX, or MS Teams are now on our resumes. Is the ever popular goal of losing weight on your list for 2021? Hire a personal trainer to work with you online, join a gym, or get a dog who will love you unconditionally if you walk them every day. Do you want to do more to support local restaurants that are being crushed by COVID-19 and the restrictions we need to control it? Buy a Taste It On Tour pass from the Broomfield Chamber at Tasteitontour.com for only $25 and support two dozen local food and drink establishments. You are helping the Chamber with your purchase, and when you order extra, and tip well, you will be helping these local restaurant owners survive until a vaccine can be widely distributed.
Whether you are a person who makes resolutions or not, one thing we can all do, is resolve to learn from 2020. That might be that you learned how critical our local businesses are to our community. They are your neighbors and a valuable source of information, use their knowledge and support their companies. If you value the goods and services provided, buy from them. Maybe you learned that you have friends who were forced to use the food bank during the lockdown. Support your friends and consider making a large end of year donation to FISH or Community Food Share. Maybe you learned how fragile our support systems really are. Find out how you can strengthen not only your own support system, but those of your friends, neighbors, and coworkers. Just remember to listen to everyone. We all have a story or two from 2020, and hopefully by the end of 2021 we can sing “100 bad days make 100 good stories.”
