ORLANDO, Fla. – Many people are happy to say goodbye to 2020 and welcome in the new year.

But unfortunately turning the page on the calendar isn’t going to magically end everyone’s problems, or the pandemic.  Paula S. Navarro, a mental health counselor with First Orlando Counseling realizes the temptation to blame 2020 for everything we have gone through this year.  Navarro says we can learn from even the worst of what’s happened.

“It’s not necessarily wipe away 2020,” Navarro said.  “There’s some really good lessons when you fail at something, there’s some sort of failure or if things don’t go your way.”

With a vaccine, there’s hope the pandemic will slowly begin to fade and we’ll eventually get back to life as we knew it before.  But it’s not going to happen overnight.  Navarro said we must take things day by day and look at what is going well each and every day as we venture into 2021.

“If 2021 is not going to - it’s not going to be perfect right away – what can you say that I did great today,” Navarro said.  “What are you grateful for?  Gratitude is one of the best ways to move forward.”

And when it comes to those popular New Year’s resolutions, Navarro said goals can be good, but you must be realistic and not too hard on yourself if you don’t make progress on them as fast as you want.  She says the small victories are still progress.

“You really want to celebrate the little victories along the way, right, and if you take a step back that’s okay just know that you’re still moving forward – and not to give up,” Navarro said. 

Navarro said now is also a good time to give goals you may not have accomplished in 2020 another try.​