Moving into 2021 with a Plan
I love a good meme. They make me giggle. Looking at the COVID-19 numbers, it’s looking like all the “2020” memes might have to adjust to 2020-2021. As funny as they are, sometimes they’re messaging can be dangerous. How many did you see after each government mandate that had to do with drinking? I have a little secret: drinking won’t make anything better. It may numb you for an evening but when you wake up with the hangover, the mandates will still be there. The mandates will still be there and now you have a splitting headache, less money in your pocket, a lowered immune system if you do contract COVID-19 and you’ve slid further down a path that has consumed entire lives. Lives that were once just like yours. Alcoholics weren’t always alcoholics. They were once happy, healthy individuals who drank “normally” just like you and me. Then something happened that they used alcohol to numb from…and it became a habit…and then a full-blown addiction. I have never met a person who didn’t know someone addicted to alcohol. It can happen to ANYONE.
There’s a lot of talk going around right now. A lot of uncertainty in the air. It feels heavy. It feels a little scary even. The unknown. It has been a stressful year…a sad one too. I have four kids and they miss their grandparents. They miss their friends. I miss dropping the little ones off with my parents to run to the grocery store for a quiet, thoughtful trip. I miss stopping in at their house and tearing up their living room and the last-minute invites to dinner together in the kitchen I grew up eating in. I miss not breathing through a mask. I miss greeting my clients with a ginormous hug of excitement. I miss having a generous reschedule policy. I miss gathering. I miss community in person. I miss offering free events. I miss packed restaurants chattering with life.
I can miss those things all I want but this is the reality of my situation right now. Wishing it away, or worse, ignoring or numbing it away, would be foolish. This is not the first time humankind has been through unprecedented times of uncertainty and fear. We will prevail again. Our science and technology are better than ever thought possible. Let me be clear: facing the brutal facts of my current situation does not mean I’m not scared. It just means I’m willing to move forward with my life WITH it….make choices WITH it.
This coming year, COVID-19 and all, instead of wishing it away…drinking it away…lets use this time to better ourselves. Really get to the bottom of what’s important. What wakes you up in the morning? What fills you with joy and light? What lifts your head with pride? How can you do more of that this year? Let’s make 2021 the year of introspection and striping away of what is NOT needed in our lives. Let’s throw overboard what’s weighing each of us down and START doing more of what lights us up. This life you have been blessed with is a gift. Not everything that happens to you is fair or your fault but it IS within your power to respond to it in a positive, productive way.
It’s different for all of us. For me, it may have to be literally all the STUFF I have in our house that is unnecessary junk to clean up and organize. It may mean scheduling far fewer weddings and portrait sessions moving forward. It may mean less time editing and more time exercising. It may mean cooking more and eating out less often. It may mean less TV for the kids and more art projects. It will most certainly mean more time journaling and writing.
Getting to the heart of what is most important to you is the starting point. Once you have that on paper, you can build out from there. One step at a time, one day at a time, one decision at a time. A journey of a thousand miles is made up of thousands and thousands of single steps all along the way.
Will the steps you take today bring you closer towards your goal or further away?
It’s your choice.
If you want some more information on drinking less in 2021, if you are #sobercurious, check out This Naked Mind by Annie Grace and Alcohol Explained by William Porter.
If you need help getting your mind on the right track to becoming happier, check out Getting back to Happy and 1,000 Little Things Happy Successful People Do Differently by Marc and Angel Chernoff.
If you need help figuring out what’s important to you and what to work on, check out Dr. Samantha Brody’s book Overcoming Overwhelm and Atomic Habits by James Clear.
How about owning few things so you can focus on what really matters to you? Read Joshua Becker’s Becoming Minimalist.
All books that have changed my life.
XO - Megan