We're Doing This Differently

The year 2020 ended, with a bang. Thing is that the entire 12 months was one bang after another. I myself like many others began that year with hopes and goals and dreams that any other year would have been acheivable with a bit of self-discipline.

Everything placed on hold while the world braced itself for what would happen next. Forcing me to contemplate what was most important and giving a valuable lesson in patience.

I started that year with hobbies and a social life that I could no longer do safely which has all since remained on hold. I had a job that I lost due to circumstances out of my control. I lost pets and family members. I had friends and family that I could only listen to as their lives unended in much the same way mine did if not more.

Usually, as the year ends we all think of resolutions, the next year will be bigger and better and we will come out improved for the best. 2020 was no different.

As the countdown to midnight began a looming reality could be felt in the dwindling numbers. This would not be over, 2020 was just a number, adding 1 to it would not solve all our problems. Coming up with a handful of vague resolutions hoping for this new year to immediately better without our own effort was not the answer to any problems.

The thing with New Year Resolutions is that people lack the motivation to keep them up for very long when things are in control. We do them knowing that they would improve our lives and our inner-selves yet as time goes on we learn just how comfortable our habits are. With circumstances outside our control like they have been recently, it would be even less likely for anything to be achieved.

Yet with 2021 rearing its head, it's hard not to follow the same traditions, come up with goals that would mean that 12 months later I would come out a better version of myself. The idea that despite the reality we have that I can do something about it so in the end something this year will be better than the last.

This year I plan to do it differently, yes above all else the main goal is still for 2021 to be better and more rewarding than last year. That is a goal that should be achievable no matter the circumstances that are thrown my way. Anything maintained in a positive light would make that goal a success. However, instead of coming up with lists of achievements to reach like I have done so many times over, I am not making a list.

Ok, I am making a small list but a to-do list. I'm sure we all have things we simply put off due to varying degrees of procrastination type justifications of not getting around to it. Some of it does sound like a wishlist like the idea that I may adopt a cat or kitten by the end of 2021. However, I am not making any concrete promises that any of it will get done.

Other than a year-long to-do list this year's resolutions are going to be simple. Instead of static goals like the basic exercise more they will involve philosophical goals. What would be the difference? That depends on what one would consider to be a static goal or a philosophical one.

It all boils down to focusing on what I can control even if it's extremely small and trying not to let the things I can't control get to me. It's true 1 person can change the world however, that world doesn't have to be the entire globe. Your world can be as small as your own self, and when it's scaled down like that yes 1 person is capable of doing so much. That person is me, it can also be you.

At the same time, the lessons of last year still ring true. This isn't the year of big change if I wait for the perfect opportunity. It never was, assuming that the sign you were waiting for to enact goals will eventually come was the wrong way to go about it. Within reason and within the current limitations, if an opportunity is desired this is the year to make that opportunity happen. Simply put, there may not be a next year to try again. There is no such thing as a sign that says it's perfect now, there never was it just wasn't as obvious as it has been for the last few months.

So this year, 2021 whether it's as small as staying healthy and safe and starting a new hobby that can be maintained in any circumstance or as large as moving house, starting a career, traveling way further than my own neighbourhood again. The goal is the same, making this year the way I want it to 1 baby step at a time.