Thank You, 2020.
Thank you, 2020.
Going into the year, there was a wealth of potential. The restarting of the XFL, countless Mets games, possible vacation opportunities, and so much more. We had so much hype and excitement here at Hardway HQ. I was loaded with excitement.
And then, the world entered a pandemic.
Everything shut down. Sports, entertainment, cities, restaurants, vacations, and countless other things. One by one, our world was, in many words, locked down.
It was the best thing to ever happen to me.
For a long time, I truly focused on the materialistic side of life. Things I wanted were mixed in with things I thought I NEEDED. It has been a true struggle for a long, long time with me.
With this pandemic, I started to learn an ultimate lesson: what made me HAPPY. Now, I’m not fully there yet, but I’m getting close to where I want to be. There have been setbacks, but I continue to grind to get there.
The ultimate move in 2020 for the website has been experimenting with new ideas. UNFILTERED has been a revelation for me, as I’ve been able to put myself on video for the first time in a long time, exposing true life lessons and my true feelings on life. Nick Reigota’s first solo podcast “Sick Nick’s Music Picks” has helped expose another side of his talents, handling a show on his own. Combine our other content, we’ve started to start sowing our creative oats. It has, at times, felt invigorated with creativity.
Finally, 2020 showed me not to take anything for granted. In an instant, you could lose a lot. There are two directions to go: hide or seek. I started to seek better for myself. A lot of people hid and continued to deal with mediocrity. I refuse to live like that anymore. I want more for myself. If others don’t, I understand. But I want to carve a path for myself and I have to go my own way to do that. I still, hopefully, have a lot of years on my planet. I want to maximize those moments as much as possible.
Thank you, 2020. You helped me continue the grind. You showed me that the only pandemic is, quite simply put, ourselves. Limiting your potential is time wasted. At 35, I learned that it’s never too late to grow and want more. In the face of adversity, I started to grasp it.
2021, bring it on. I can’t wait to keep growing. I want to grasp more of that brass ring.
Jon Harder
