2020 is coming to a close. Finally.
I’m so happy and relieved to shut the door on 2020. This year has been exhausting, stressful and just not good for a number of reasons.
#1 Reason for making this a crappy year was obviously the pandemic.
Now, you’ve seen all those blogs reminding you to be grateful for what you have. That’s fine and totally makes sense. However, I just want to remind you of something.
Even RESILIENT people feel overwhelmed in tough times. Even RESILIENT people struggle with feeling grateful when they’re in the thick of things.
That’s a normal healthy feeling. The “gratefulness” comes further down the road after you’ve had times to process, problem solve, and maybe even pivot. All those so called “grateful people” out there might not be feeling as grateful as you imagine.
And all those grateful people can make you feel like something is really wrong with you. I’m here to say that there’s nothing wrong with you. In fact, you’re feeling what you should be feeling after this crazy year.
You are normal.
Personally, this year was very difficult for me. My work was not keeping me busy enough, which left me way too much time to think. Now, for some people having too much time can be positive and give you the space to nurture and grow. However, I don’t fall into this category. I need to be busy and be around people. In fact, I joked to someone on zoom, a few months back, that I had “face deprivation”. I get my energy from people, and I was feeling drained spending so much time at home with little interaction.
In lieu of this, I took action.
I did what I instinctively knew that I needed right now-I brought home a puppy. And this puppy became my main focus and made the time go by faster. This puppy brought me joy and something new to focus on. Ruthie didn’t make the pandemic go away, but she did help me pivot to something much more positive.
2020 has been difficult and it’s very possible that it has been a disappointing year for you. However, 2021 is just around the corner and you are about to put this last year in the rear-view mirror. Realize how resilient you are -you made it through a tough time, persevered and now are posed to move on to bigger and better things.
You could even say that you’re grateful.