Your Narrative is Your Narrative...

Let's be real...The year of our lord 2020 has, is, and will always be remembered as a complete dumpster fire. From demagogues to cults of personality, to untimely and difficult passings, to a pandemic that's giving the 1918 Spanish Influenza outbreak a run for its money, 2020 has given no quarter in terms of the trama that's been dished out to the people that have lived through it. In some ways, 2020 has forced us to examine our collective and individual mettle in ways that we rarely explore. Honestly, many of us have failed those trials in an epic, hunger games-ish kind of way and it's hard to look at that failure with a fresh set of eyes. Well, 2020 has inevitably ended and 2021 has brought us what the beginning of every new year normally does for the bulk of humanity.

HOPE...

The start of a new year is indeed a clean slate; a time to really put a tangible face on your wishes and desires and wrap them up in a framework that you can visualize and see. We all do it in some form or fashion. We make resolutions to get healthier, to look better, to make that portfolio look just a bit fatter, etc. We could actually go on for years on end thinking about how many times we've told ourselves that "this year will be different" when January 1st rolls around. Funny thing is that the beginning of the year actually does encapsulate ALL of those things in that moment. From the time you think about the previous year's failures and success to the time you ponder what could be, the sky actually IS the limit.

Sooooo...How do we actually REALIZE those goals, hopes and dreams? I mean REALLY grasp them? I think the very first thing that has to happen, is that we have to acknolwledgethe possiblity that you WON'T achieve everything you want to in a given year. Instead, think longer and broader. Speaking for myself, I'm a divorcee of 3-plus years. there was a period of time where I saw pretty much everything I valued for the previous 7 years just go up in flames. That reclamation project wasn't a "New Year's resolution" kind of thing; It was a multi-year, multi-directional effort to heal, and to re-learn things that I never thought I would have to re-learn.

Needless to say, it wasn't easy. It was downright depressing at times, but progress is progress and that PROGRESS kept me going. Acknowledging your growth and progress is important, no matter how much or how little of it you have. It's important to celebrate your triumphs and wins. It's also important to have people around you that will PUSH you to achieve and grind when you're at your lowest. People that will inspire you to take your narrative into your OWN hands to write. In a day and age where the art of the echo chamber has replaced a LOT of the introspection that comes with growth, having people around you that will hold up the mirror to you and force you to engage in self-evaluation isn't just important; it's an essential for survival.

At the end of the day, we all have a story to tell; We all have a narrative to write for ourselves. How that narrative plays out not only depends on us, but it's inflenced by whom we keep in our respective circles of influence. The beginning of 2021 is yet another opportunity to write annother chapter in our very own biopic. How we write the characters and how we deal with the plot twists life is sure to toss into the mix during the year is on us.

I'm planning on writing a pulitzer-winning piece of work for 2021. How about you?