I have heard a lot of talk about choosing a word for the New Year instead of a traditional resolution. This word can help create a mantra for the year.
The more I thought about it, the more I loved the idea. After a lot of thought and deliberation I narrowed it down to two words for 2021, hope and perspective.
After experiencing all we did in 2020, it can be really difficult to see the good in our day-to-day lives with all the negativity in the world. However, I am choosing to look at this New Year with a hopeful outlook and changing my perspective when possible. I found myself teaching my six-year-old about perspective the other day and this is when I decided to make it a family affair, and involve my children in life lessons focusing on hope and perspective.
My daughter is not a huge fan of distance learning and is eager to go back to school in person. She misses her friends and her wonderful teachers. However, her teacher makes distance learning interactive and fun. So I asked my daughter to change her perspective and focus on the positive aspects of distance learning, like the ability to sleep in a little later. She started listing all the parts of her school day that she enjoys with excitement in her voice and a smile on her face. She came to the conclusion that even though in person school is her favorite, that distance learning isn’t all negative.
The following day my children were asking when their new toys they had earned would arrive. I told them Amazon stated they would be delivered in three days. They started moaning and groaning as if I had said three years. I decided to take a trip down memory lane and tell them that there was no such thing as ordering things off Amazon when I was a kid, and that nothing would arrive at your doorstep in 72 hours. My kids were shocked, as most kids now a days would be. No Amazon?! They were baffled and confused. They hadn’t realized just how lucky they were to have such quick, easy and stress free access to so many things they had taken for granted until hearing my “back in the day” story. What a luxury! Especially during a pandemic.
As simple as it may seem, I find myself stopping and intentionally having to change my perspective as well in order to keep a positive outlook on life right now.
Hope is something I have tried to hold on tight to this past year. Some days I feel it slipping through my fingers and fear the chaos and uncertainty will take over. However, I have been able to find small and simple ways to keep hope in the forefront of my mind and my life this year. For me, hope is an optimistic state of mind that good things and better times are coming.
We all hope for 2021 to be a brighter year, but how do we keep that hope alive?
I have found reading positive words of affirmation, meditation, and listening to uplifting music is helpful. I have also implemented a technology free hour each day. It’s so easy to be bogged down by the constant negative news, but a friend told me about Good News Network and it was exactly the kind of news I love to read while drinking my morning coffee.
There is so much good that goes unnoticed in the world, unless you really search for it. Beautiful, inspiring stories are out there we just need to find them and share them with others to keep our collective hope alive.
So cheers to a new year filled with new perspectives and unwavering hope!
