this year (itty bitty thoughts)

2020 was a bully of a year, wasn’t it?

Or was it?

I mean, was 2020 just a group of numbers written on the top of a calendar, a group of numbers that we turned into a demon and started expecting it to behave like one?

I did it. We all did it. We all said at some point, Well, yeah. What do you expect? It’s 2020…

So.

Here’s a suggestion.

What if this year we stopped acting like the year at the top of the calendar has any power over us? Like it’s some demon hanging out, ready to squash us?

What if we stop using it for an excuse for why things don’t turn out?

What if maybe, instead, we put our effort towards finding the good?

And if we “can’t” find the good,

we try to be the good?

Last year, it was really easy to say well, yeah. It’s 2020… as if nothing good could come from it.

What if by focusing on the bad, we cloud our vision towards anything good?

What if by focusing on the bad, we make others feel bad for pointing out what worked?

What if by focusing on the bad, 

we toss more logs on a fire

and give more power to the bully

and add energy to the thing we wish would just fizzle out? 

It takes the same amount of energy to expect something good as it does to expect something bad.

What if this year we woke up ready for something good to happen?

What if we wake up expecting something good to happen?

Oh, my friends. So many good things are happening.

And so many good things did happen.

And that’s not to discredit the struggle or loss or hardship that was experienced by all of us last year in various ways.

It’s to say that it’s your choice what you focus on.

It’s to say that yes, your life and the world that surrounds you really is as shitty as you think it is. (Read that again.)

It’s to say that the gifts of perspective and gratitude are worth opening every morning of this year and all the years to come.

It’s to say that what’s behind your eyes shapes what you see and how you see things as you head in to every new day of this new year.

It’s to say that it’s up to you.

So.

Don’t give up your power.

Don’t let anyone else tell you what to see.

How you see the world in this new year is absolutely up to you.

** For a great read about perspective on the year that was, check out Be the Captain of Your Life in 2021 by my friend Chris at his brand new homesteading blog. 

— Amy Dingmann 1/1/21

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