2019 has been a year — and that’s being kind.
For me, it was filled with six months of physical therapy, tears, goodbyes, hellos, new jobs, new second jobs, loneliness, warm fuzzies, losing friends and family, and growing closer to the ones who remained when the smoke cleared. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that 2019 would look the way it did.
2020 is here and though I’m tempted to lock the door on the past and pull the “new year, new me” card, it begs the question why?
Why would I want to be a new me when I worked damn hard to claw my way to this exact point?
Perhaps in 2020 we should all spend some time appreciating not only our surviving the previous year, but our personal growth through whatever hardships we faced.
Appreciate the scars that make you the battle-worn warrior ready for anything the universe throws at you.
Do not mourn the wounds that made them.
Be optimistic about your future regardless of past wrongs.
Become wise instead of wary.
Welcome challenges knowing you have earned the tools to overcome them.
Ask for help, and recognize that is not a sign of weakness but of great personal faculty.
You are here. You made it! And you are better and more whole because of the circumstances that have broken you.
Seek out happiness and the things that bring you joy, even if you feel you don’t deserve them.
Fight for what you want, even when you feel like you can’t go on.
Be unapologetically you, and know you deserve to be treated as nothing less than the amazing human you have worked hard to become.
And finally, be kind to others, as there are quite a few of us in the “2019 Kicked My Butt” Club who would appreciate a little less callousness and a little more laughter.
May 2020 be a year full of wonderful surprises. May you welcome challenges and hardships knowing you will overcome them; and if you get the chance, make the choice to be happy.
By Amanda Bold, Havre
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