21 Things I Hope For You In 2021
The year is 2021. You have plenty of toilet paper. You are allowed to hug your grandma. You don’t have to wear a mask, but maybe you do because you’re not feeling well and don’t want to get someone else sick. You eat inside of restaurants, and you attend the theatre to see your favorite musical. Your children are in school all day long. Your hands are no longer cracking from sanitizer overdose.
I hope that’s what your year looks like, I really do.
I hope you hold onto that vision of your year, and I hope you carry these thoughts with you, too:
- Breathe. You’re here to see another sunrise — and that is an extraordinary gift.
- I hope you develop the strength to say “no” to the social situations that do not fuel your soul. There are only so many hours in the day — please spend them wisely.
- Spend what you can, when you can, on other people. Giving is part of living, and I hope you give with all your heart.
- Cultivate gratitude in your heart for the things that you often overlook. Love grows in ordinary spaces.
- It’s OK to carve out space for yourself — the need for alone time doesn’t make you antisocial; it makes you human. It’s OK to be alone. It’s OK to want that sometimes, too.
- When the mood strikes, find the opportunity to host people in your home. When you open your home, you open your heart — and the world needs more open hearts.
- I hope you open your heart to love, always. There is love all around you — pay attention.
- Pay it forward. Little moments of kindness have more of an effect than we realize. Tender moments of compassion heal more hearts than you know.
- Build a big table — and never stop building.
- Hold open the door for others — literally and figuratively.
- Stay still long enough to be in the moment without scrolling or snapping a photograph. Not everything needs to be documented and posted — it’s OK to keep things private and make memories that last only in your mind. You miss a lot when you are constantly gazing at the world around you through a screen. And life’s too precious to miss a beat.
- I hope you remember that love is a gift and something to be treasured.
- I hope you learn to love yourself better, too.
- Resist the urge to believe the lie that love doesn’t require work. Love is a two-way street, something that needs cultivating, patience, and honesty. That all takes work, but it’s work worth doing.
- Never forget that you deserve a love that sticks.
- Forget about other people’s opinions of the path you are on — your life is not theirs to live.
- Your habits shape your daily life — and you’re the one who gets to choose your habits. Those daily moments that seem so unimportant are the building blocks of your legacy.
- You can hold hope and anguish in both hands. You can feel a myriad of things at once — don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
- Live in a way that leaves a legacy built with the bricks of love and honesty.
- Be honest with yourself, and be honest with others — but do not confuse honesty with cruelty. There is a difference between the two, and there is no honor in hurting others under the guise of being truthful. Sometimes, you don’t need to say just one “thing.” Sometimes, you do. There is always a difference.
- Let truth, not fear, guide you.
Inspired by this article on Thought Catalog.
