A 2020 Reflection
One of my best friends, Lauren, and I started a tradition a decade ago of making predictions for the upcoming year. I seal these predictions away until we get together in December to review our guesses and try again. There’s something lovely about looking back on all the things, good and bad, that have happened in the last year because I find that we often can’t see how much stuff is changing when we’re in the midst of it but looking back you can see the geography of the path you’re on. It’s also fun to see what goals you’ve achieved, what lessons you’ve learned and the memories you have made. So, as we close out this year I want to look back on what can easily be called an unexpected year.
Hopeful Resolutions
I set several goals for myself at the end of last year and if I’m honest I haven’t achieved all of those original resolutions but I found as the year went along I created new goals because I was growing as a person.
I had several goals for the blog this year which included posting twice a week, completing several specific posts and doing a bit of self-promotion on my social media accounts. I had varying degrees of success with each of these. I can say that I have happily posted twice a week for the whole of 2020 which has been somewhat exhausting but also challenging for those times that I didn’t feel like I had anything to say. I completed my intended monthly bucket lists and seasonal self-care lists, however, I didn’t finish all of the “My Mythicality” series though I definitely continued with it. Honestly, the hardest thing for me this year was self-promoting the blog on my social media because that is so far outside of my comfort zone. I made the decision to purchase the domain ConverseandCrowns.com in the hopes that it would boost my desire but I still felt strange telling people to read my random thoughts. Excitingly, we have gained new readers this year and have even had people from other countries stumble upon our little site which is pretty stinking cool!
Personally, I set myself four goals to complete this year and I was super excited because I over exceeded my resolutions last year. Welp, that wasn’t the case this year and I blame it all on 2020. One goal was the aforementioned blog promotion which I call a minuscule success. I also set myself the task of continuing my health journey by losing a few more pounds which in theory I did but as I was basically re-losing quarantine pounds I consider this a fail. Dang quarantine snacks! Resolution number three was a mirror to one from 2019 because then I tasked myself with reading at least 25 books I’d never read before. To reward myself for reading all new books in 2019, I wanted to reread all my favorite series this year including the Harry Potter series and the Anne of Green Gables series. I reread the Harry Potter series during quarantine when my squad had our weekly HP marathon but I’m behind on finishing the Anne series because I up and decided to reread the Twilight series before reading the newly released “Midnight Sun”. As of now, I’m frantically trying to finish the Anne series to make myself feel better. Ha!
Unexpected Growth
As I’ve said before, I didn’t hate my time in quarantine because I learned a lot and grew outside my comfort zone. A lot of these growth moments came with new goals or challenges that I tried to bravely and intentionally undertake. These tasks included simpler moments like doing a Bible journaling page for all 66 books and more challenging moments like competing in a pageant and being intentional in my love life. Some of these moments have brought about great change and some are still a work in progress but I’m thankful for all of them and love them even more for how unexpected they were. Praise the Lord that we are never done growing.
Wonderful Memories
2020 has been the most bizarre conglomerate of events that I’ve ever experienced. Pandemics, murder hornets, living in hurricane central and the strangest school year to date. Hollywood could not have come up with a plot line this outlandish yet here we are living smack dab in the middle of it. 2020 has definitely had some pretty disappointing moments but personally it’s had some great times as well. My squad has grown closer than I dreamed possible in the last twelve months. I love these girls more than I can say and truly view them as sisters. In the last year we have gone on tons of road trips, chased ghosts, done photoshoots, had movie marathons and basically ate our way through the city of Hattiesburg. These are memories I will cherish for the rest of my life and I’m so thankful they happened.
This might have been the last Southern Miss Baseball game we attended!
This year also made me an aunt with the birth of my nephew, Nate, who in my opinion is the cutest thing ever! It’s been incredibly amusing to watch my “baby brother” be a father and it’s moments like these that remind me how quickly life changes which is a great thought when you feel stuck in a rut.
Turns out Aunt Bae is the Baby Whisperer.
2020 brought about other revelations in my life as well. Some of these are exciting, some are overwhelming and truthfully some are disappointing but that’s life. I find that as this year comes to a close, so do several chapters in my life. In true Anne Shirley fashion, I’m facing several bends in the road which is exciting AND scary but very necessary. I think in a lot of ways my 2020 experience has prepared me to better handle the unknowns of the next few months in a hopeful and expectant way. The Lord has been so faithful to me during the last twelve months and I know that He will continue to be faithful. If nothing else, I’m learning to let go of my need to know every step on the path of God’s plan. He knows and that’s enough for me.
2020 got me like...
Overall, I think 2020 will be a marker for many because there are moments in our history that become monuments on our timeline. The world remembers Y2K as a pivotal juncture. Americans divide life as pre and post 9/11. South Mississippians judge time as being before or after Hurricane Katrina and personally 2020 will be a pillar for me. Like everyone else, I’m not sad about saying goodbye to 2020 but I’m also glad it occurred because it has influenced my perspective, hopefully, for my life and for that I am grateful.
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