It was a year of uncertainty for many and challenge. Most of our plans this time last year changed dramatically over the course of 2020. Yet there’ll still be some progress we’ve made and things we’ve achieved, probably more so, given what we all had to overcome in the year of the pandemic.
A good visual record of this is the top nine doing the rounds. Our photos on our phone capture our moments, look back on yours from 2020 and collect the best. Ask these questions to help review your year and set yourself up for 2021.
· What’s gone well?
· What have I learned?
· What can I do now that I couldn’t do this time last year?
· What do I need right now?
· What’s in my highest good?
· What do I need to let go of?
As I reflect on the last year these are the lessons I’ve learned:
Resilience is something I talk about a lot and no doubt a muscle we’ve all had to flex this year. We like to think everything will go well and to plan and yet it rarely does! Life requires us to be uncomfortable with uncertainty and yet so often it’s the root of our suffering. We tend to chase after and hold onto the good times not wanting them to end whilst avoiding and numbing out any bad times rather than just accepting what is and the nature of lifes ups and downs - this can often be the biggest lesson in resilience and one I’ve learned this year.
Rest has been something I’ve enjoyed over the last week or so but was also enforced on many of us during lockdown. We noticed the void that comes with stopping and the uncomfortable moments of being too long with our own thoughts or having too much time on our hands – a novelty we’ve not been used to. I’m also one for striving and doing and yet I’ve learned that sometimes stopping is starting. When we stop we solve the problem, find the answer, listen to our gut, remember where we put the car keys, get that great idea. Whilst we can be so busy trying to do all of the things sometimes the answers we seek arise when we stop doing.
Gratitude is another favourite topic of mine and this year has forced me to be more mindful of looking for the positives. It’s helped me see that often the small things really are the big things and we’ve always got so much to be grateful for. It’s often the stuff we take for granted too. It brings to mind a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson about the night sky. He said that if the night sky was a once in one thousand year occurrence we’d all go out and be amazed, religions would be created overnight and the world would stop as we gazed in awe. But the nights sky stars happens every night so we all just watch TV instead. It’s true that the things we have everyday we take for granted and almost stop noticing until they’re taken away. Like our ability to gather, go to cafes with friends, see our family or go to the beach. Lockdown was a lesson in appreciating all the things we took for granted, do we still appreciate them in the same way six months down the track?
You know I’m big of looking for the silver lining in the clouds and that clouds are an expected part of our life as we navigate the ups and downs and the uncertainty that is a normal part of human life.
Despite cancellations of events I was able to go online (silver lining)
Despite not being with friends and family in UK as they contracted covid-19, so far all have recovered and whilst I wanted to be there I’d have been in lockdown so of little use. Being so far away might be hard but it also means I get to be in NZ and live freely for most of this year (another silver lining).
Despite not seeing my UK based family this year or having them at my wedding I was still able to get married. Despite the restricted audience numbers I managed to perform live on the TEDx stage. Despite launching a book in look down the first shipment of the Superwoman Survival guide sold out. You get the idea! There’s a lot to be grateful for and I’m a big believer in focusing on what we have rather than what we may have lost.
As a nomad I love to travel and have been back to see my UK based family every year without fail since I left a decade ago. However being confined to NZ has allowed me to travel locally, appreciate my own back yard and get to some places I’ve not been to before. We really are very lucky that we get to call NZ home.
I hope you’ve had a great summer break and have reflected on your progress and lessons from 2020 to set you up for success in 2021.
ngā mihi o te tau hou
Jess