How To Prepare For A New Year
2020 was not what we expected. 2021 makes no promises.
Allow me to go ahead and give you the hard truth…
How do we prepare for a new year? … We can’t.
I believe this is what we’ve learned in 2020 and I’ll do my best to elaborate. Any new year in its entirety is very unpredictable. There’s no possible way to “expect the unexpected” because it’s simply just a phrase we use to remind ourselves that we are not in control of how the world works. We can’t prevent things that we don’t know about beforehand. We can’t change the past; nor should we. The past is a previous example of what we should always keep in mind on a daily basis for the remainder of our lives. The past is only created to use as strength and guidance for a better tomorrow.
“If you don’t learn from the past, you can’t live in the present.”
Without the past, we’d be oblivious to incoming and sudden possibilities in the near future. We need to have the strength to endure the inevitable
…but it doesn’t necessarily mean that we‘ll be prepared.
Covid-19
For example: No one could have predicted Covid-19 to become what it was. Sure, there have been past predictions of a pandemic that would strike the world but It’s also pretty easy to predict a disease. We’ve had countless of sicknesses that have taken the lives of many that could’ve never possibly prepared for something so fatal. Covid-19 was -without a shadow of a doubt- an insane pandemic that ruined an incredible year of potential; One pandemic that no one could’ve anticipated. I can only pray that we use this as a learning lesson for 2021.
“A Year That Will Never Be Forgotten”
2020 was a year that will surely never be forgotten. Although some may try to forget it, I HIGHLY encourage you not to. And let me tell you why:
Regretting, or even attempting to forget about an uncomfortable past would only mean that it was all for nothing.
I don’t know about any of you, but I absolutely do not want this year to be all “for nothing”. I didn’t spend 9 months of quarantine, social distancing, and wearing masks to just forget that it never happened. Instead, I’d surprisingly like to always keep this year in my memories for the rest of my life. No, it’s not a good memory. No, I don’t cherish the pain of losing loved ones, inspirations, and valuable time that 2020 had taken from the world… But I won’t forget it.
I won’t force myself to believe that this year was pointless. I believe in the phrase “everything happens for a reason”. I believe that 2020 gave us a much-needed reminder to always be grateful for what we always thought was so simple. Spending time with family, arena-packed sports games, graduations, weddings, proms — All of these things were taken for granted in a world that had no expectations of it all being taken away. This is why I won’t forget 2020; Not because it has negatively impacted my life, but because it has shown me to always appreciate the time I’m currently and forever blessed with.
If 2021 just so happens to be an exiting year of peace, normality, and positivity, then I surely won’t take it for granted this time.
I may not be able to prepare for the new year. I may not know if this upcoming 12 months will present the world in a better or worse state than before. But I definitely know for a fact that I’m not going to limit myself to any expectations. Whatever God himself has planned for the new year, I trust that he will grant me an inevitable future that is bound for success. Otherwise, I don’t believe I would’ve made it this far.
I survived 2020.
2021…You’re up to bat.
Thanks for reading. — Logan Tucker
