Hello 2021!

By Diana Brummer,MSW, LCSW & Owner of Good Mental Health

2020 has proven to be a year unlike any other. We’ve dealt with a global pandemic, a contested presidential election, social unrest, school closures, job losses, mask mandates, government-issued quarantines, social distancing, and the pervasive upset to the routines that lend stability and comfort to our daily lives.
    It is no surprise that our collective mantra for this New Year is to leave 2020 in a cloud of dust, growing smaller and smaller in our rearview mirrors.
    But as with any hardship, 2020 also brought with it opportunities and lessons. It introduced a heightened awareness and allowed for greater insights as only a crisis could if we choose to see them.
    2020 shined a light on our need for compassion, community, and mostly each other. It shifted our focus to the fragility of life, the preciousness of time with those we care about, and the ache we didn’t know we would feel from wanting to be together when can’t be; all things we may have taken for granted in 2019, and all priorities I hope we maintain in 2021 and beyond.
    This new year already appears to be off to a promising start. We have vaccines in distribution, an election decided, and hope on the horizon for a return to normalcy. But as the days turn into weeks and the weeks into months, our work must continue. The wisdom we gained by going through the hardships of this last year will only disappear if we allow it to. It is up to us to embrace these lessons and change for the better, as individuals, as a community, and as a society.
    As it becomes safe to do so, I encourage you to continue to value what we longed for and lost during this past year: the unencumbered smile and embrace of our family and friends, a job that allows us to contribute to the world and also provides for our physical our needs, the ability to sit side by side without barriers, at work, school, church, and anywhere else our hearts desire.
    I encourage you to find value in what we gained this past year: a taste of a slower pace of life, working from home when possible, treasuring the time spent with the people who mean the most to us in the world; taking care of our physical health as well as our emotional and spiritual health, becoming woke to the knowledge that life is finite and therefore precious. In the best of times, as well as in the worst of times, it is up to us to make our one precious life count.


Good Mental Health, LLC is a counseling and coaching practice located in St. Johns, Florida, offering individual and family counseling to adolescents and adults. With sessions available face-to-face and online, we hope to provide the tools and skills necessary to heal past wounds, grow healthy relationships, and build strong families. For more information, to read more about us, or contact us please visit GoodMentalHealthllc.com.