Sometimes our outdoor life meant family soccer in the yard, or a bike ride on the trail by our house, or a walk through a neighborhood that wasn’t our own to switch things up. Other times, we drove to different states for true adventure. We hiked, walked, skied, snowboarded, biked, scavenger hunted, explored, and whatever else we could find outside to maintain our sanity.

Of course, this wasn’t easy. Though I recognize with true gratitude the mountain of privilege we sit on having the choices to stay home and be able to spend time outside the way we have, it hasn’t been all smiles as our pictures show.

Our daughter developed some extreme anxiety issues during the pandemic. Almost every time we left the house this past year, it was hard for her. Not hard like taking on a small challenge, but hard like extreme panic and tears and emotional meltdowns. It was so sad for us to watch, and it also was frustrating and patience challenging and just another storm of emotions for each of us on top of everything else that everyone has experienced this year.

Everyone’s had their own hidden struggles as is always the case, but this year held up a massive magnifying glass for every person to sit with their darkest feelings. It’s been a year that shook all of our foundations. We’ve all learned to recognize the everyday heroes of our world in a way that we may not have been able to see before. We’ve learned to embrace highs and lows and worry and fear. We’ve all found our own way - with everyone comfortable on different paths of their choosing - to make our way through hard things.

I love watching this video because it reminds me of all of the smiles and the little braveries and how choices to push outside of our comfort zone can help us take tiny steps through big things. We’ve all made our way through this pandemic and through the hard things in general that we all face that remain away from the public eye in different ways. This video doesn’t capture the stress, tough choices, sleepless nights, hearts missing loved ones, and much of what I agonized over and spent the majority of the pandemic doing, but it’s one piece of this year’s truth, and I know I’ll be holding on to this tiny piece in future hard times and for always.