Now that it's begun

Often we talk quantify macro issues in measures like total cost in GPD. When I think of that measure I immediately imagine disasters like COVID or the war on drugs or the mental health pandemic. One thing that saddens me is that I believe that the U.S is starting 2021 off with a fallen start.

I feel like many spent the last quarter of 2020 waiting on it to end. Just as the enormous advantage of hitting the ground running, I think that pessimism, being on one's back to conclude the year is an enormous disadvantage. Except for the edge cases, one cannot simply jump up and start running. There's a slow ramp up period, more so mentally than physically. 

I think that 2021 is off to a staggered fallen start because of the mindset we ended 2020 with. It will probably cost us a lot of GDP, but more tragically it will cost us in more suffering and less future optimism. Less agency. Less life. 

I'm grateful that many on here feel so ready for this year though. Hopefully you are all off to a running start. And if you were on a staggered start, I hope that you are beginning to feel that spark within. It's never too late, but it's better to get going soon.