I’m eating donuts today. Why you ask? Because for the past 1096 days (3 years) I’ve been my own boss. This spring wasn’t easy, but summer and fall have been better and I’m heading into glee’s fourth year with renewed optimism and spirit.

After weathering this year of uncertainty I’m more grateful than ever for my clients and connections (and quite frankly the joys of a donut). It didn’t take a pandemic for me to know how lucky I am to enjoy the work that I do and even more the people that I do it with. But this pandemic and economic downturn did show me I was right. Here are a few unexpected silver linings as proof:

I’ve witnessed powerful resilience, especially among my event industry colleagues who have had to change course overnight, learn new skills and technology platforms and make virtual conferences and expos a success. You guys should be proud of yourselves…you rock!

I’ve established stronger relationships with the people in my professional universe on Zoom and social media and made several new work friends!

I’ve participated in several unplanned projects with tight turnarounds and was happy to play a hand in making them happen.

I’ve participated in projects that have kept businesses running despite the uncertainty.

I think we’ve all come to live with “abnormal is the new normal” and we expect things will continue to be different for a period of time, but we know someday we’ll get back to business as usual. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep the things we discovered really work well and make our collective work lives better.

To my content marketing clients, friends and colleagues – thank you for sticking with me. Thank you for referring me to other people. Thank you for trusting me to support you during challenging times. I’m always here for your needs; however they may change.

Happy Birthday glee! Everyone, please indulge and eat a donut with me…virtually of course.

P.S. I invite you to think about share something positive about your year in the comments below! I’d love to hear about an uplifting moment that has kept you going.