The Beauty of 2020
2020 was a life-changing year. I’m gonna take a gander and assume it was more on the negative end of the life-changing spectrum. I do not disagree with this sentiment but I also have been trying to shift my perspective when it comes to the more difficult facets of my life. It is just so easy to complain and be upset or feel scorned or feel like the universe is always against you. Trust me when I say, that I say the sentence “what is the universe trying to teach me?” at least 12 times a week.
It would be so easy to blame away 2020. Place all the blame on the pandemic but really, we need to look at our response to 2020. How did you meet situations out of your control? How did you react? How did you feel? How did you learn, if you did, acceptance?
This year was chock full of lessons. It forced us all to make changes, some good, some bad. And changes are not easy for us. We are creatures of comfort. But I think if you sift through all your anger at 2020, because there certainly is a lot of it, you would come to the conclusion that we really needed a year like this. And I don’t mean the absolute tragedies, the physical losses. Those are so sad and terrible. And I send my heart out to anyone who lost a loved one, covid related or not. But we needed a very dark year in order to look at the light in our lives. We needed a reminder of our purpose on this earth. This year should be a calling to shift your perspective. Or better yet, to begin to learn how to shift your perspective.
For example, I lost a relationship right when the pandemic started. I was devastated. Heartbroken. A hot mess, if you will. All I could do was focus on how I had lost a love of my life and my best friend, the person I called with pretty much everything. I spent weeks, maybe months in agony over it. And then one day, I decided to shift my perspective. I stopped looking at all that I had lost and I started focusing on all that I learned. I started looking at everything I gained during that relationship. I started focusing on what I could be grateful for. And it was not an easy task. But boy, did it open me up to a floodgate of new information. I learned more in the past six months about myself, myself in relationship (intimate and other), my ego, my authentic actions versus my emotional reactions, my resilience, my intuition, etc. than I had in years. It was a very tough education, but I write this today, knowing that I had an opportunity to love someone, the opportunity to learn deeper parts of myself, the opportunity to expand and I took them all. I lost a relationship but I gained a whole new me. And none of it would have happened if I didn’t shift my perspective on the situation.
It is so easy for us to look outside of ourselves for blame, for reasons, for answers. The difficult part comes when we have to go inside for everything. And this year is begging us to do that. It is asking for us to stop focusing on everything we cannot control (schools, laws, people’s opinions) and to start focusing on yourself and what you have control over. This year is asking you to seek answers and reactions within. Your lesson begins with your response. If you are triggered by something, ask yourself why? If you are angry at someone or something, ask yourself why? If you are hurt or sad, ask yourself why? If you are happy, ask yourself why? And then when you get those answers, start digging deeper. Don’t stop at the surface answer. Get honest with yourself and who is underneath all those layers. This is how you begin to upgrade your system, to vibrate higher and to shift your perspective.
Because just like that new iphone you get every year or that new fancy gadget, your body and mind needs an upgrade. 2020 is that annoying iphone alert that says, “there is a new software update available” and it keeps alerting you until you actually do it. If you did not get that memo, this is your reminder, you are due for an upgrade!
And upgrades come with pain. Growing pains. It is not easy to look at all the crap that put us in a tizzy, to really examine the reasons and get intimate with the answers. It is way easier to hide from ourselves and just say this year sucked for everyone, lets move on. And if that works for you mentally, go for it but you’re losing the potential for growth. I spent probably a full day crying last week after realizing how I had come to the table emotionally/mentally with someone. I thought I had been approaching the situation with love and compassion but really I had come to the table with love, compassion AND control. But it took me a lot of therapy and meditation and sitting in my pain to get to the answer I needed. And then I had to process that information. Ugh, peeling away the layers is so hard! And sadly, there are no band aids for growing pains.
But there is clarity and perspective. There is growth and expansion. So maybe don’t look at 2020 as the year you want to sweep under the rug, but as a year you began to take stock of your life. How can you stop looking at what you lost and start looking at what you gained?
One question I spent a lot of time journaling on is: what do you want to leave behind in 2020 but more importantly, what lessons and habits do you want to carry into 2021? What energy do you want to bring into 2021? I highly recommend you take a few minutes and think about this. You may be surprised at how much this prompt brings up.
And like every almost new year, please stop with all the self-imposed pressure. You do not need to use the transition from one year to the next as a way to beat yourself up. We all want to be healthy, in shape, etc, but that is a lifestyle and takes a long time to build. It does not happen in just January. I am certainly easing into this new year. I am focusing on the baby steps I need to get the longer strides going in the next six months. And I am certainly not holding myself up to rigid, unrealistic standards. I recommend you do the same.
This is how I see it. If you were walking past someone on the street who desperately needed your help, would you stop and help them? If the answer is yes, then why are you not helping yourself? Why are you always putting excuses and others in front of your self-growth and care?
Do not miss the opportunity that 2020 has presented you. This golden space to better understand yourself and to shift your perspective for the better. We can collectively say that 2020 was the worst year, but rather lament on the crap, how can we see this as a chance to expand?
I leave you with that thought and I hope you know how incredibly grateful I am for everyone who supported and stood by Maikana this year. We would not still be in business without your continued love for us. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are loved.
Happy New Year to you and your loved ones,
Jamiesonxo