Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021!

The end of 2020 is in sight. Just a few more hours and the calendar will read January 2021. I keep hearing everyone talking about how they cannot wait for 2020 to be over. That it’s been a terrible year, good riddance to it, and so on. I get it. I’m looking forward to 2021 myself! It has been a terribly hard year for a lot of people and I know, that for some, it’s been a year that has drastically changed lives forever.  Jobs were lost, loved ones passed away, our lives were turned upside down…Covid and the restrictions it brought, wildfires, hurricanes, and floods…. It’s easy to recount the bad things that happened to us all. It’s always easier to dwell on the negative than the positive for some reason. 

It’s very hard to find good in the middle of despair or joy in the midst of grief and so many of you have had to try to do that this year. I’m not discounting or diminishing anything that anyone has dealt with this year.  I’ve cried tears with you and my heart hurts for you when I think about what some of you have been been through. But, when I look back over the our year and then some of the things I’ve seen friends and family post and share, there’s been some good things happen in 2020, too. Babies were born, people met and fell in love, some got married, birthdays were celebrated, kids graduated, people beat cancer, and communities came together and helped each other.  Granted, some of those things were celebrated a little differently but they happened. And they were all good.  We all grew in ways we never dreamed we could; we did things we never thought we’d have to much less be able to do…remote learning? Work from home? That would never happen! But, we did those things and more.  Anyone reading this is still here and that’s a good thing. We found ways to teach and learn and communicate and love on each other that we would never have known if it weren’t for the constraints of 2020. So, this year wasn’t ALL bad!

I know a lot of us don’t want to carry anything from this year into next year but some things are worth carrying over.  One of the things I hear when I hear people talking about moving on from 2020 and into 2021? HOPE. I hear hope. Hope for a better year, a better life, a better future. Another thing I hear is THANKFULNESS. Thankfulness for making it through this year. Thankfulness that we can go into a new year with a better appreciation for the things and people in our lives. A thankfulness that we are able to move forward and not be stuck in 2020 forever.  

When that calendar changes from 2020 to 2021 at midnight tonight, things aren’t going to magically go back to the way they were ten months ago.  Oh, how I wish it could, but that’s not how it works; we all know that. Time marches on just as it has always has. When you think about it, this New Year’s won’t really be that much different than others in the past. We’ll be entering a new year with hope for a better year, anticipation of good things to happen, thankfulness for the opportunities, and determination and motivation to not let it be like last year. That may be the biggest difference…determination to not let next year be like this year.  That, and we’ll be a LOT happier to welcome next year than we have been in years past.  

Let’s take that hope, thankfulness, and determination into 2021 and make it a great year. Throw in some love and kindness while we’re at it. Happy New Year to all of my friends and family.  You are one of life’s greatest blessings and I’m looking forward to sharing this next year with you all! 

GATHER…a Word for the Year

I stopped doing new year’s resolutions a long time ago.  I NEVER kept them; in fact they were usually broken well before January was over.  And, for the  most part, they were unrealistic for me.  Several years ago, I was introduced to the word of the year concept and found that it really worked much better than a resolution. You choose one or two words that represent an area of your life that you’d like work on and concentrate on doing that. It’s not a laundry list of goals or a checklist of things you want to get done.  It’s  a character building/changing exercise. And while it’s not something I succeed at on a daily basis, it is something that does improve as the year goes on because I’m aware of it and therefore make a conscious effort to change it.

This year my word is GATHER. I’m also using BLOOM. There’s several reasons for choosing these words and once I started thinking about them, I saw little signs that reinforced my decision to use them.  One of the things I came across was this pretty little plaque in the clearance section at a local store. It came home with me and is on the table directly across the room from my kitchen sink where I will see it many times daily.

I really struggle with being sociable and doing things outside of my home. I am, by nature, a homebody in the sense that I am perfectly happy to stay at home and do ‘my’ things: craft, read, write, watch old movies, etc.  For the most part, I am happy with my own company.  I didn’t always use to be this way but I have found over the years that I tend toward being more of a recluse. To be honest, though, I am a people person. I love hearing people’s stories and discussing common interests. My husband is really a people person and is always ready and willing to go and do at the drop of a hat. I have to have days notice and dread it the whole time and psych myself up. Funny thing is, I always have a good time once I get there. It’s the getting there that’s hard.  He made a remark several months ago that got me to thinking and I realized that I have become quite anti-social lately. I’m not exactly sure why this has happened but I know that it’s not really a good thing so I’m determined to change that this year.  I am going to gather together with friends more and bloom where God has planted me.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another -and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25