We are all used to the parables around the holidays about what is really important. How gifts and luxurious items are not the reason for the season but sharing and building memories with family and loved ones. Perhaps it has never quite clicked in, but this year I feel like we all have felt just how important seeing each other and being able to celebrate together really is. The beauty about 2020 is that usually we are given this lesson when it is not too late. We usually learn just how important someone is to us when we have abused the relationship past the point of reckoning or even worse, that they are no longer with us. We realize only too late what was important oftentimes. But 2020 has given us the ability to learn the lesson but still have time to make things right. Like our very own version of “It's a Wonderful Life” we are able to wake from the nightmare and make everything right instead of going down the dark path.
2020 can be our very own redemption plot if we allow it to be! Before March, when was the last time you sat with your kids and played? Or called a long time friend and talked for hours or even went for a walk with your spouse? A lot of us began to see what we were missing in our lives in our attempt to create the perfect lives for ourselves. Now of course we are in limbo. Some of us are back to normal, some of us had to change paths completely and even some aren't back yet but the question remains, what would we like to keep from 2020?
How could I say that, right? This was such an awful, waste of a year on the surface but we actually have a lot to be thankful for and can turn this year into a learning tool if we choose to. If you feel ready, take out your favorite writing device and ask yourself what you do not miss from your old life. Avoid a knee jerk reaction of nothing or everything but give yourself specifics. Scroll through your calendar and messages and allow yourself to relive some of your old life and write down in detail the things you miss and the things you do not want back in your life. Once you are done with that it is time to figure out a game plan on how to keep those things from reentering your life. Was it a toxic relationship or habit? Or maybe a stress reaction you lost? Whatever it is look back at what made you reach for these habits/people/things and give yourself a way out. Visualize yourself being tempted to enter back into these old ways and then using your devices to find a way out of it.
Once you have finished that part of the exercise you can return to this next question tomorrow or if you are feeling energetic, continue. Now ask yourself what things did you start in 2020 that you want to keep? Maybe a new hobby or exercise routine or a new partner. Perhaps you had a huge reawakening or maybe it was just a subtle letting go of judgment. Again, avoid assuming you didn't change, we all changed this year perhaps more than a normal year, you just need to give yourself time to see it. Often we change so subtly we fail to notice it. Use your calendar, camera roll, messages to refresh your memory and let yourself take a journey through your year and see how you have grown. Write down all the new traits you would like to keep into 2021 and work through the same process as before of visualization. See yourself in the near future without the negative traits of 2019 with your new positive traits of 2020 coming into 2021 as a bold new version of yourself. See yourself being tempted to fall back into ways you know no longer serve you and successfully resisting. Watch yourself grow even further as 2021 progresses into a better and stronger version of yourself.
Hold onto the image of yourself as you want to be for as long as you need to before slowly allowing yourself to come back into the present moment. Make a promise to yourself that you will do your best to make this image a reality. If it helps, write down a phrase, image or word that will remind you of this promise you are making to yourself. Put this on your mirror, in your wallet, as a background on your phone, anything that will let you see it several times a day and help keep you focused on your goals. This year was not a waste but a blessing and is a strong lesson for everyone if we choose to use it in that way. Have any comments or questions? Reach out to us at info@bullionite.com.