2020 was weird, obviously.
I feel like I am already sick of all the Instagram graphics telling me how weird this year was. It has become a cliché, but there is really no other way to put it.
Every New Year since I was in eighth grade, I have written myself a letter. I usually summarize my year, answer questions I left for myself the year before, and ask new questions for the following year! The time has come for me to write this year's letter, and I genuinely have no idea where to start.
My life looks completely different now than it did in January. Most other years this would bother me a lot. I don’t usually do well with change, but this year I had no choice. When quarantine hit, I realized that I really didn’t do much; I had a lot of half-started hobbies and half-developed friendships. I had always assumed I would get to them eventually when the time was right, and then all of a sudden time didn’t really exist!
All my life I thought I had to check certain boxes before I was allowed to do things. I’m not sure who told me this or why I stuck to it, because it is really no way to live. 2020 taught me there is no wrong or right time to do the things you are excited about. If you have the opportunity to do something good, then that is a good enough reason to do it right then.
For example, I got a tattoo this year! (Please don’t see me as one of those people relentlessly flexing their probably pretty basic ankle tattoo, that is my worst nightmare) It says “All the Same” from Highlands (Song of Ascent) by Hillsong United (Yes I know it is more basic because it's a Hillsong lyric). I had wanted it for about two years and finally decided this September was the right time to get it.
Basically, I got it as a reminder that even when everything in life is changing there is a certain steadiness to it. In every hard season, there is a lot of good, too. Just because it is a bad day or a bad month (or a bad nine months), it doesn’t mean it's a bad life. There are highs and lows, but life goes on all the same.
I still am not sure how I will start my New Year’s letter, but I do know that while it will have some important reflections on hard times, it will also have really good stories and some of my favorite memories of all time.
Yes, 2020 was weird, but it was beautiful in its own way. Here's to hoping 2021 finds a way to be beautiful without all this chaos, but even if it doesn’t look that way I think we’ll all be okay.
Happy New Year!
