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Writer's pictureMaria Vandenburg

Ten Lessons from 2020

Updated: May 21, 2023

With the start of 2021, my intention is to lead with my heart and continue to fall more deeply in love with life, I wanted to kick off the year by listening to that heart of mine.

That heart is longing to spend time in reflection, spend time in looking back to see how I have shifted, evolved, and changed.


It has definitely been intense, but when I take a step back, I can gather these lessons that have been served up to me.



  1. I can become a Wonder-Woman when I need to be. 48 hours to pack up my entire life, purge and move across the entire world all on my own? I'm exhausted just thinking about it, but somehow the super-hero capabilities kicked in and I was able to quickly relocate across the world from London to Seattle.

  2. My voice matters: Publishing my very first book and launching my very first course allowed me to see this within myself

  3. Your voice matters: With the launch of my very first company this has been a driving force for me, my voice matters, but so does yours. I have loved being able to cultivate a space to help others to come to believe in and step into their own power

  4. Significant relationships can shift in my life but I'll be OK: I have some major relationships in my life shift this year, the ground beneath me has definitely been rocked, but through those tectonic shifts, I leaned into a deeper connection with myself, and a stronger love than I have ever felt and also seen some incredibly new and evolving relationships taking form and deepen.

  5. Gratitude can shift everything: I'm not going to lie, this year has been tough, I think for each and every one of us, and there are still moments where I'm overcome with sadness, anxiety, worry, or fear. BUT, without fail, when I can shift to focus on everything that I'm grateful for, everything that's already within and a part of my life, my mood shifts, my energy lifts. I feel a little bit better, a little bit brighter, and a little bit lighter

  6. The Power comes from living in the moment: I've known this for a while but this year solidified this for me. I can often stress myself out worrying about the future or dwelling in the past. But, when I come back to this moment, this breathe, this heartbeat, things feel a bit easier and I again remember how much I have.

  7. Trust: If I had to think of one word to define 2020, and to be fair my present moment it would be that. Trust. Trusting myself, trusting my body, trusting my intuition, trusting others, trusting the Universe. Magic comes when I can get to and live from that state of surrender and trust. When I talk about falling more deeply in love with life in 2021, trust is a defining factor in enabling that.

  8. Sometimes I need to set my Planning Nature Aside: I'm an incessant "do-er," I'm the type of person who constantly wants to have a plan and know what's next, have a goal that I'm working towards. And while I still do carry that, a lot of what this year has shown me otherwise. I can plan whatever the hell I might want to (like for example half a year of world travels), but the Universe might want to serve something else up for me. At some point, my plans needed to be thrown out the window, and I needed to accept the reality of what is, and just be.. and again go back to number seven.. trust.

  9. I'm not really in Control, but my Higher Self is: There is such freedom when I can get to a state of acceptance with this and live from this state

  10. Compassion with Myself is Key: I seem to love judging myself, I do daily in fact. I should be more active, I shouldn't be so tired, why am I so exhausted, what's wrong with me? It can be SO EASY to get caught in a downward spiral of self-judgment and blame, especially when I know how powerful my thoughts and consciousness are. So how do I get out of it? By being compassionate with myself. Holding myself with love despite all of my "flaws."




As to what 2021 holds for us, I'm not sure, but I had a vision during the launch of my first course of all of us sailing into the unknown, it's with this vision that I launched my first company and that I continue to hold onto. Us sailing into the unknown, but with ease and grace and trust because even though we didn't know what was coming, we knew we had one another and we knew how loved and supported we all are.


PS. I also recorded a new podcast: You can tune in here:


Interested in learning more about my personal journey?

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