With just a few days to go until we say goodbye (and good riddance?) to 2020, I know for many of us, the transition from this year to a new one can’t come around quickly enough! However, if you have found this past year rather difficult, there may be ways to look at it from a different perspective, enabling you to take a more positive legacy into 2021.
This past year has certainly been challenging in many ways and I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been impacted by Covid-19, whether directly in their health or indirectly due to their work/business being affected or missing friends and family we’ve not been able to see/hug/spend time with. I hope that however you spent this Christmas, even if it couldn’t be quite as planned, that it was still a happy one and you were able to connect with loved ones, one way or another.
Cracker trivia: Did you know that ‘Xmas’ is not simply a lazy way of spelling Christmas, or a play on the word kiss, as I thought, but apparently derives from the Greek way of spelling it; X denotes Christ! I love learning little facts like this – as well as the cheesey Xmas jokes, of course!
Last year, my sister was over from Australia for the festive period. This was amazing anyway, given how rarely we’re able to spend time together in person, but as she’d only returned to Australia 2 months before the world seemed to close its doors to travellers, it makes those moments we got to share even more previous. And the way things are still going, it may be a while yet before we can get to do it again!
As many people have commented this year:
Thank goodness for the technology we have now, that enables us to have as close a semblance to being together as possible, without the real thing!
Like most families spread across the country or further afield, we video-called a few times over this Christmas and regularly chat by text, keeping each other updated on what we’re doing on opposite sides of the world and in opposite seasons, with photos galore. Although I did have to tell her to stop rubbing it in the other day with her recounting just how hot it’s been over there, while we were in the middle of yet another grey, cold and wet day!
We both love taking photographs when we’re out in nature too, yet whilst mine is really just a hobby, I’m so proud of her for turning her passion for capturing Aussie wildlife and landscapes into a business. And it helps to keep me in touch with the country I love through her eyes and lens! It still fascinates me how two people can go through the same situation/landscape and yet have a completely different perspective on things because of their varying experiences, beliefs, views etc and nothing captures this better than a piece of art or photography, enabling us to learn so much from others!
If you’re also a fan of cute koalas, crazy kangaroos, stunning coastlines and rolling hills of vineyard views, why not take a look at some of her work here: Sharon Baker Photography
By Sharon Baker Photography
I love seeing the beautiful images she captures, however it also reminds me of this:
What I’ve really missed this year is travel!
It’s the first year since the age of 12 that I’ve not travelled abroad. Even when I was 7 months pregnant with my son, I got in a final ‘adult only’ holiday in the Canary Islands…and then took him on his first holiday at the ripe old age of 4 months for a week in Portugal! I would normally be travelling anything between 1-6 times on average, from city breaks in Europe to the 2 months I took off to travel around Australia with my son (then aged 10) 3 years ago! (I officially home-schooled him, so we were lucky we already had a heads-up on that when all the schools closed back in March!).
I love discovering new places, exploring different cultures and sampling weird and wonderful food and drink from around the world…and that’s been one of the toughest things to go without. However, when I think about some of the things others have lost or had to do without, it helps put things into perspective.
And I’ve found other ways of getting my fix of travel – by exploring more places around me whilst doing more of something else I love – getting out for walks! And taking lots of pics of things that catch my eye, whether that’s a scene of rolling hills in various shades of green and yellow or the sunlight reflecting off a lake, especially as the seasons change and alter the views too!
So, I don’t know about you, but now we’re in this No Mans Land between Xmas and the new year being heralded in (albeit rather quietly I guess, here in the UK!) it seems even more important than ever to spend some time both reflecting on what’s passed and looking ahead to start thinking about what we want from 2021.
And whilst you may feel like you’ve had enough challenges for one year, I’d like to set you a new one!
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
To identify as many positives and ‘blessings in disguise’ as you can from 2020.
It may be a year which on the surface you’d like to forget about as quickly as possible, as many of you will know, I’m a great believer in not just learning from our past, warts and all, but also in checking our perspective on things to see if we can actually see some positive aspects (or blessings in disguise) with a fresh set of eyes – or viewing them through a different lens, as it were!
For example, if covid has made you more anxious about your health, how can you use this to make positive changes for yourself? Perhaps you already found a new love of walking and you can commit to incorporating more of it into your week as we continue forward? Or try a new activity, such as yoga or meditation?
Maybe you missed seeing colleagues at work and going out socially with friends but found yourself with more time to spend on yourself or playing with your kids and realised how much you loved that? How can you ensure you maintain some of these passions going forward, even as things return to ‘normal’?
Noticing and acknowledging the positive moments in our day/week/year is a great way to express our gratitude and therefore raise our emotional and energetic vibration – and by the Laws of Attraction and Synchronicity, that means we’re more likely to attract more of those same precious things to us going forward! If you’d like to read more about this and keeping your own Gratitude Journal to help, here’s a blog I wrote a while back about it: Counting a Mother’s Blessings
One of the things I spent my ‘spare’ time on this year was developing my spiritual connections and expanding my energetic capabilities, which I’m so excited to tell you more about…but I’ll save that for another time and let you get back to your own reflections (and the leftover mince pies and chocolates!).
Until then, enjoy this reflective time and I’d love to hear about any new perspectives you come up with, perhaps through your own new lens! Pop a comment below.
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