As the year comes to a close and we prepare to kiss 2020 goodbye, let’s keep grounded yet hopeful for a New Year.  Although romanticized and traditionally seen as a new start, 1200am on January 1st does not provide us with a magical switch to which all of our problems and fears disappear.  2020 has undoubtedly been a rollercoaster of 12 months but we need to keep perspective as we turn our calendars into a new set of months.  When we wake up January 1st may we feel the hope that the New Year provides and realistically continue to face our challenges, internally and externally.  How can we say goodbye to 2020 and say hello to 2021 in a healthy way?  Here are some tips for your New Year:

1. Reflect Back: on 2020 and all that has happened within your life, good and bad.  Journal about your experiences with the pandemic and how it has impacted your life specifically.  Find blessings that occurred within the year that you never expected.  Review your photo reel in your phone from 2020 to help you remember key times over the past year.  Maybe you found a new hobby or finally tackled that home project that you never had time for.  Maybe your church family provided support to you when you lost income.  What can you reflect back on from 2020?
2. Forward Thinking: What bad habits or toxic relationships do you want to extinguish from your life?  What changes do you want to make for yourself this year?  Set small, achievable goals for each month of the year.  Don’t try to tackle a lot of ambitious changes at once.  An effective behavioral change takes at least 30 days of consistency to be lasting.  New Year’s Resolutions are simple ideas, but concrete desires set into motion as goals are life changing.  Although you don’t ever need a special date to start implementing change in your life, starting 2021 with a new direction breeds hope.  What direction do you want to move forward in?
3. Keep Going: We have all been in bad situations in life before.  Personally, professionally, or even relationally, each one of us has had to face life challenges.  How did you overcome those challenges?  What tools did you use?  Who did you lean on for support?  Those experiences have helped to prepare you for this time of your life.  2020 may have been crueler to you than others but you can choose to keep going.  You cannot always control the circumstances or outcomes but you sure can choose to show up and face the situation.  Keep going my friend.  We are cheering you on.

As 2020 comes to a close we wish you all peace for a healthy and happier 2021.  Keep yourself grounded and hopeful as you prepare for this New Year. 

Cheers, The MSC Team