Have A Little Faith in We

Last year I bought The Loft 2020 sweater. We were just hanging around for New Years…. it was the large size my baby belly needed and I literally said “well 2020 is a year I would like to have commemorated.” It would be the year  I would turn 35, we would celebrate 10 years married and we would welcome our little lady. Normally I find things with a year on it sorta dumb, when will you ever want to wear it again?? But I thought well, 2020 is gonna be different – I might want to wear that year again. What I thought was cute, sweet and going to be a fun momento has ended up being more like one of those T-shirt’s sold at amusement parks for riding their scariest coaster – “I survived 2020 and have the tshirt to prove it.”

How many of us have been laughing about what we felt about 2020 at this time last year?? In fact I remember having a teeny tiny pang of jealousy that I would not be able to make any big declarations for 2020 or have any huge milestones set and kept for this beautifully even numbered year, cause I would be just trying to learn to mom. The best goal… of course and the one I dreamt of …. but still seemed like 2020 was the year made for running that marathon, writing that book, remodel something…. boy was I wrong about the type of remodel we ALL would get?!?!

But recently it also has me thinking that  maybe this year has helped us all get away from phrases like this is the year I am finally going to lose the weight, organized, be better….” All the pressure … the mindset that you can finally be happy or enjoy life because you have done this thing. It is a nod toward perfection that is not realistic and can lead to missing out on the simple pleasures, moments of gratitude, being present…. believe me I know. You know this memes about how adult life is basically saying he next week life will slow down and you can get it together?? That is ME! And it really is not a good way to live. And if any year has taught us to expect the unexpected, it is 2020.

This year also taught us about figuring it out. Not being able to run errands – we figured it out. Working from home while parenting or teaching or with four legged coworkers or when every other persons in immediate area is on the wifi – we figure (or each day are figuring) it out. No mass… no family gatherings… no sense of normalcy at all- we figured it out. I would venture to say we realized what in our life was really necessary and we would need to figure a new way to do it. Or what do we spend time, energy, money on that we actually don’t really need to do. And you know they best part? Is different for all of us! I feel like some folks have loved having an empty calendar…. and some can’t wait to fill it up again! And do even others maybe there is a balance of both?! This year gave us the gift of forced figuring out what we want in life right now… what we want for the future… and how to make it happen, even when the circumstances are not ideal or even anything we could have imagined.

This gives the chance to go into 2021 with a different perspective on achieving goals. We can consider what it is we are looking for: more peaceful home, healthier self, following that budget. Then we can start trying ways to make it work. And when it doesn’t work or maybe needs tweaking by February or June or heck even January 5!  Because this past year we know when we really want or need something to work we can just keep trying and then know how to celebrate even the littlest progress.

Goals and dreams and hopes are all important … and I am excited to set aside some time to consider how I want my year to go. But no matter what path I find for the new year the top priorities will be to not let the need for change of plans or updates to approach be a feeling of failure, but rather a sign of committing to figure it out. Wishing us all another year of figuring it out, accepting progress over perfection and doing so for more things of our choosing, rather than for survival.

Thank you so much for reading and remember to make it a great day year!
Jackie