Its been a year none of us could have imagined. Weve given ourselves haircuts , attended drive-by birthday celebrations, and stopped wearing jeans. Weve also stood bravely in the face of uncertainty, held onto each other virtually, and learned a lot about ourselves even things we never expected to.

These are some of the lessons our readers and colleagues learned about themselves in 2020, which well be sure to bring into the new year.

The pandemic put into perspective which friendships are worth keeping.

Not being able to see people made me really think about who I was missing and who I was totally fine not seeing, says associate editor Sima Shakeri. It made me really reflect on the people in my circle that I actually like being around and who I just hung around with because it was convenient. The pandemic afforded us the time to be more discerning with who we want to surround ourselves with once we can socialize again.