When I was a kid, I was lucky to have people who believed in me from a young age. The world was good and even when sometimes it wasn’t, it had the potential to be.
2020 has challenged all of us. It wasn’t easy to wake up and face bad news every single day. No one wanted to leave their houses because of COVID-19, the wildfires out in California and Australia, the racial injustices and that was only the beginning.
We started this year with hope. We all desperately wanted things to get better, but… three months after New Year’s Eve, we are still in lockdown, watching the days go by through the window, and we feel frozen in time. We are unable to free ourselves from feeling stuck. Brexit doesn’t make things better, to be honest.
January didn’t go as expected. I have experienced things that I will carry with me all my life. Probably like you. I know friends who have lost family members at the beginning of a new year – which sucks. Always sucks, but… Others who feel lost in the midst of so much uncertainty.
There was a moment this month when I wished so deeply to be next to my mum. Although I was lucky to spend Christmas with my family, there were not enough hugs.
What comes next, how do we move forward and do we heal?
We can’t know these answers. No one has these answers. But you, me, all of us, we have an opportunity to change the course of the future. We can be a source of hope and healing for each other.
I have a close friend who started recently a new job and she sent me a message yesterday asking me for advice, productivity tips, my morning routine and I had to admit that February was challenging for me. I was living the day by day. I didn’t go out in all this time. Not even when it snowed in London. I was getting up super early to start working as soon as possible, in order to finish earlier than usual and rest. Or work from the sofa instead.
Then, I realised that simple acts can remember us the world that exists around us, even during uncertain times. So, I suggested her an online session together to find motivation and emotional stability working from home. With a glass of wine in hand, of course, because even the little things should be celebrated.
And this seems super banal, for many other people meaningless, but for those of us who miss the office and are not quite used to working from home, or we don’t like it at all, setting work and personal goals in the company of others and have someone from outside to stop us and be more realistic with ourselves, makes a difference.
We can practice hope through kindness with others. Your friends, neighbours, colleges…strangers on the internet. You’re not alone. Everyone is going through something right now.
Rituals are super powerful too. And that’s my big challenge for April. Allowing myself to have a morning routine, sticking into it, planning things in advance, letting go perfectionism. Our daily routines and weekly habits offer us stability. And I need a ton of that.
Another thing that has been useful for me is to create a hope list. I took my journal and I wrote down hopeful moments from 2020 and those things I’m looking forward to in 2021.
I’m going to share them with you and it would be nice if you can share yours with me in the comments:
- Making new friends who care about me and share the same values.
- Seeing my family and friends during a pandemic.
- Supporting my partner through two different jobs and being proud of his achievements. He inspires me to be better.
- Being supported at work about my mental health and everything we are going through.
- Creating an online community to support each other and be the best version of ourselves.
And here’s my list for this year. Hope is not an expectation, it’s manifestation:
- Going outside without fear. Hugging all my family this year. As humans, we have survived impossible events before. Hope guides us forward.
- Giving my best at work. Meaning investing in education and training.
- Loving every piece of me once for all.
- Taking care of each other and the planet. Reading and following the right people is going to make me stronger and a better person this year.
- All these events we went through and we’re still fighting are opportunities to change the course of the future. Use social media to fight against injustices.
I send you all my love from London. Take care.