2020 Reflections
As you reflect on 2020, there may be some difficult memories and some challenging times. You may have read that birds caught in a hurricane will fly to the center where it is calm and stay there until it is safe to come out. Our hope is that each of us can find that place in the center of the storm where it is calm. There is great power in realizing the external reality does to have to control our inner world. Maybe we live in troubled times, but it is within us to rise to the occasion. How was your year? We would love to hear from you, here you can find a judgment-free place to post about your own reflections of 2020.
One action that I find helps is to reach out to someone else and help them out. We can make the choice to help others, and that can make all the difference. With that in mind, as we prepare to welcome in a new year, let's think about good wishes that we can give to others for 2021. I invite you to go through the forum and find a post from a member who needed support and go here to post a positive wish for them for 2021.
It has been an honor to work with this community, and I wish the very best to you and yours!
-BlindGrapefruit and WeedyGarden
Happy New Year!
2019 ended for me very poorly, the end of 2020 was certainly an improvement. Here at 7cups there were those who cried with me, both with the bad news and then when some things were resolved. It was weird, getting to a point where a personal crisis had ended for me and I was still allowing myself to process that when the world went into a state of emergency.
I've seen that when everyone is in the same situation things that were rather inflexible suddenly are able to accomodate. I also noticed that those who are in good health tend to take many things for granted that often times those of us with health conditions do not.
I think some empathy has been built. If we hear ;oh you're so lucky that you get to stay home so much!' we can be like uhh remember 2020? Yeah, it's like that but even more limitied because of not feeling well enough to do a bunch of projections in the home.
On the opposite side there's also been a lot of hurtful remarks and just cluelessness - those at risk should just stay home type of statements. People seem very clueless just how much we do need to go out for needs, go for treatments, go to the hospital, etc.
In the past I have felt like with all the stresses piled on me have I really built any resiliency? It feels as though it just builds at times and leaves me weaker. I certain am weaker to many physical threats. To a shutdown though? As long as I can access the things I need I have much more resiliency than others forgoing wants. Things that others find very stressful are so far down my priority list they barely register. I've also wondered about acceptance, I'm not super keen on the term - it implies consent. I'm more for acknowledgment and recognition and I kind of felt like don't most others? I saw so much denial around me this year though that perhaps it is a strong skill I have but didn't see it as anything special.
Overall I would say I learn that a personal emergency differs greatly from a collective one. In either situation though, it's good to have those who care, they help in both. Cut out those who drag you down further with coping wtih those things. It doesn't have to mean cutting them out of your life entirely, but it can be a nope, not listening to this right now - the fits in well with the eye of the storm metaphor, those can swirl around, I have more core there, centered with me.
With 2021 I do expect things to eventually improve, I plan on keeping that core with me, we can celebrate together too.
