If I had a dollar for every meme I’ve seen about 2020 being the worst year ever, I’d be starting to accumulate a small fortune. Some of them are wickedly funny, but while I’ve been guilty of sharing some of the better ones on social media, I’m starting to think that maybe we need to change our thinking about this year.
Yes, it has been a really rough year – arguably, the roughest year in my lifetime. Never in my wildest dreams (or nightmares?) did I ever think I’d be stuck in my home, unable to hug my friends, wear a mask whenever I do leave the house, and that’s not even counting the turmoil our society is experiencing in so many other ways. But perhaps bemoaning what an awful year this has been is not the best way to start shifting the energy both on a personal and on a cosmic level.
So, rather than continuing to feed into the “hey, it’s 2020, what do you expect” attitude, and expect things to get worse and worse, perhaps we could focus on what we can do to turn things around, even if it’s only in small ways?
I love this Dan Brown quote I came across recently: “We are now perched on a strange cusp of history, a time when the world feels like it’s been turned upside down, and nothing is quite as we imagined. But uncertainty is always a precursor to sweeping change; transformation is always preceded by upheaval and fear. I urge you to place your faith in the human capacity for creativity and love, because these two forces, when combined, possess the power to illuminate any darkness.”
I propose that we don’t give up on 2020 just yet. How about if instead we
- keep being kind
- keep caring
- keep loving ourselves and others
- keep giving back as much as we can
- keep believing in a better future
- keep showing grace under pressure
The world, and this year, needs us to believe in the good.
Will you join me in not giving up on 2020?
Thank you very much for your post, Ingrid.
Health and happiness to all of you. Take care of yourselves, and always allow yourselves the freedom to be happy, as well as sad.
Shalom.
JBT
Terrific post, much better way of looking at things, thank you for the reminder 🙂
When you want something so bad, maybe it’s a different job, better health, more love, or for the world to wake up and realize what they’re asking for maybe the worst thing, possible, don’t give up.
Your miracle is on its way is how you have to believe. The darkest night may bring the brightest day. Keep on believing, keep on smiling and life will soon bring a change.
Thank you do much Ingrid. Boy did I identify with that. You are so right. There is always a way to make things better. It starts with each one of us. Thank you❣
Just commented and added a link. Then tried to remove the link and couldn’t. So feel free to remove the link and keep just the sentiment.
Thanks
I did notice something about the situation. The year 2007 was a deadly year for me. To be perfectly honest it was only God’s grace that got me through it. I thought I was dying at the time. Now 13 years later things have flipped. I do notice a trend of the number 13 always being a good number for me. This year it seems like many are experiencing my 2007 I experienced. I found this quite odd or maybe it is so I can offer encouragement to others. So let me leave you with something to help all of you that a messenger gave to me in 2007 that I held onto like gold because I didn’t know how I was going to survive. “Do not worry. Everything will be okay.” In 2007 I had suffered at the hands of a man i was married to for five years who kept making death threats to me, cheated on me, forced me to drive a truck, I lost my job from a fall at an icy field lot, lost my home, pets, health, marriage, most things I oened and most of my sanity. It took a very, very long time to recover, but I held onto those words the messenger gave to me. Do you want to hear the odd thing about all of it? I could not see the messenger and only heard him and felt a great peace. A neighbor up the road at the time who I did not tell what happened came to me and said something was going on with the house. She then told me she had the ability to see angels, which only confirmed in my own mind I did not hallucinate what transpired. So remember one thing, if nothing else, “Do not worry. Everything will be okay.” God bless all of you.
This really has been the toughest year ever. I keep thinking I am just in this weird nightmare and hope to wake up soon. Thanks for your advice. Maybe it will make it a little easier to get through these crazy times. But of course it should be something we practice every day.
Good Morning Ingrid,
I will toast to your NEW way of thinking …. but I have to admit it’s with a tiny grain of salt … Can I tell you that Pre-Covid 19 I had already been unable to shake the feeling that my Casey died “recently” when it had already been over a year? Somehow even though I THOUGHT I was handling myself with grace, I obviously was not because time seemed to stand still for me.
I haven’t told anyone because I’m afraid of what they’d think … but if someone brings him up, a steady flow of tears instantly rain down my face. I can’t stop the tears so I just stop the conversation.
This whole 2020 just seemed to me like an extension of Casey suddenly dying… and that was Nov 2018!
November is coming soon … again. From the end of August I feel this sense of dread as the fall draws near.
I will try to look at it differently, Ingrid, just like you proposed. It wouldn’t be my first attempt, however. I feel like a failure.
This is the first time I’ve posted in so long.. but I appreciated what you had to say today and I wanted to let you know.
I hope your heart hurts a little less, too. But I know there will always be a Casey shaped hole in my heart, and I know each of us shares that same feeling. How could it be empty yet so heavy at the same time?
I wish you and everyone who comes to this place for your words of wisdom, peace and good health …
Here’s a toast to Kindness, Caring, Self Love, Being Gentle with ourselves when we need it, Acceptance, Faith, Hope, and Grace…
I don’t think loving so much that you can’t let go is ever a failure, Joyce. Hope and grief coexist, nothing is ever black and white.