You don't need us to tell you this festive season has been weird. After almost a year of being alone, it's still a jolt to the system to have such a different sort of "traditional" time. Even if you have managed to be lucky enough to see your loved ones in the holiday, there’s also something rather nice about getting your own spaces back.

In a year that is anything but balanced.

Balance is what we all need. But first, embrace all the challenges you have met and dealt with. Have a pat on the back. Because even though Christmas 2020 hasn’t given most of us any sort of family overload, it’s been stressful in its own way. After all, who hasn’t been...

• Juggling meeting people, in between the weather.
• Calculating who you can and can’t meet, negotiating bubbles, households, dates and masks
• Buying gifts, when non-essential shops are shut
• Making gifts because you have no cash
• Squeezing into last year’s little black dress/jeans/baggy jumper, even though no amount of stretch fabric will allow for all the banana bread you’ve baked (and eaten)
• Trying to look your best even without a haircut for 4 months
• Holding it all together with family that have been with you constantly for the past 9 months
• Or - holding it all together when you see family that you’ve been apart from for the past 9 months

So, take a little time to congratulate yourself on getting through Christmas 2020. A historical date in a historical year. And an opportunity to move ahead.

Time to look forward to next year

But now, it's almost over and we can look ahead again. Take stock of where we are, and decide on the best plan of action to make the most of the New Year.

To realise how much we miss our connections and our loved ones. To make plans to see them more often, to argue less, hug them more. Even just to speak more often.

2021 isn't going to be a breeze, but it does have promise.

We wish you peace and joy for 2021. A swift move to “better than before” would be amazing, and most of all, that we can all be back together again as a society, as communities, families and friends.