My World 2021

Dear 2021,

As I welcome you with open arms (okay more like 95% open arms if I'm honest), I surprisingly have nothing to ask of you.

Instead of my usual new year's reflections where I make a super detailed list of everything that I want to happen in the coming twelve months, this year I have no expectations.

You see, what I'm truly looking for in 2021 cannot be supplied to me by anyone or anything. The thing that I want is already accessible to me, I just need to find the courage to invite it into my life.

That thing is unconditional peace.

My plan is to remain in a conscious state of tranquility and contentment throughout any adversity I may face in 2021. I am choosing to do this for the betterment of my mental health, physical health and the well-being of those around me.

With this pledge also comes an understanding that I will inevitably experience tough times and dark emotions, but this year I don't mind and I'm not afraid of them.

Last year I approached stress and other negative emotions by trying absolutely anything I could do to push them down and prevent them from coming up. Distancing myself from those feelings didn't get rid of them. Instead, it forced me to hold on to them until they piled up enough for me to explode.

This year I am taking a healthier approach, underpinned by the belief that I own my response to my emotions. Instead of trying to hide from feelings of stress, anger and sadness, I will allow them to emerge without judgement and then take the necessary steps to work through and release them.

By neither pushing them away or feeding into them, I can acknowledge that they are a natural human response, temporary and not a representation of who I am.

My motive for this comes from a series of events I found myself in in 2020. Although quite difficult, those experiences changed my perspective on life. They showed me that all of the challenges I face are brought to me for a reason: to help me grow in some area of my life or teach me a valuable lesson. Now when new challenges arise, I have the power to remain at peace by trusting that they will benefit me in the long run.

In 2020 I also consistently found myself working towards more complex, focused self-improvement goals. What I failed to realize at the time was that I had yet to master the basics, so this year that is what I'm going to do. Building a solid foundation of emotional intelligence, coping skills and stress management is an integral part of self-improvement.

With that being said, remaining unconditionally peaceful all of 2021 is definitely not going to be easy. This is going to take a great amount of will-power, mental and emotional strength and mindfulness. I know that I probably will fail more than once on my journey, but more importantly I trust that with every failure I will get progressively better at mastering my emotions.

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If at any point I feel as though what I'm going through is throwing me off track I shall refer to this letter and the messages I've written to myself below:

~Just breathe~

~It is okay to feel this way, it is a normal part of being human~

~These feelings do not represent you, they are just feelings and they are fleeting~

~Remember that your life on this Earth is temporary~

~Embrace what you are going through and make the most out of it~

~Trust that everything is occurring for a divine reason and that it will lead you to where you need to be~

~I believe in you and I am proud of you~

~You deserve peace~

...

2021, thank you for giving me the time and space to improve and experience yet another year of this crazy life.

With Gratitude,

N