Rephrasing 2020
None of us would have asked for the challenges that this year has brought, but how we speak about 2020 matters to our future.
As December 2019 drew to a close, I sat with renewed energy as midnight approached on the crest of not only a new year, but a new decade. As a self-professed realist, I didn’t expect a sudden change at the stroke of a clock hand, but my senses were heightened to the possibilities ahead. A leather journal penned with goals in one hand, and a glass of champagne in the other, I slumped back into my chair and exhaled a contented sigh.
Many would not have predicted the things that 2020 held for us. We have had to consider our fragility as humans as never before. A global pandemic, racist murders, systemic oppression, and economic disarray are a few of the things we have been confronted with, causing pain and a longing for change. 2020 is not the year we hoped for.
Learning to grieve
We are often taught that grief is something we walk through when we face the death of a loved one, but it can also be a covert process we enter when we lose anything which we deemed to be important. Cancelled travel plans, celebrations, and work opportunities may seem superficial in their importance compared to the pressure we have been under as a society, but these too can leave us deflated.
In its simplicity, learning to grieve our hopes for this year may mean acknowledging uncomfortable emotions, like disappointment and frustration. In its complexity, grieving may be allowing ourselves to feel deep sadness and brokenness at the state of world affairs and not rushing to a quick fix solution. As productive women, it can be challenging to pause and reflect on how we are handling difficult times personally, but when we do, we gain mercy and mature compassion for ourselves and others.
‘It is easy to slip into a NEGATIVE dialogue of how much we have suffered’
Learning a new language
Our words carry weight. Out of our lack of enamour for 2020, it is easy to slip into a negative dialogue of how much has been taken from us during this time. Although it is healthy to express our disappointment rather than mask it, we can unknowingly make a bad situation worse with how we consistently choose to speak about it.
In the Bible, there are a collection of wise sayings called Proverbs. In Proverbs 18:21, it says:
‘Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose’ (MSG)
How we speak about this year matters because it either adds health to, or taints our perspective and resolve. It is not about a special motto or rhetoric, rather an attitude that leads us to speak honestly, yet with hope about the times we are living through.
‘We have a unique chance to allow our darker times to DEEPEN our true convictions’
Learning how to use pain
Nobody asks for suffering or unreasonable struggle, yet we can all recount painful stories where that has been our reality. Life will never be completely free of hardship, but we can learn to use those moments to pivot towards a purposeful shift.
For many, 2020 has not just been inconvenient but marked by various trials. In those trials, we have a unique chance to allow our darker times to deepen our true convictions and what matters. When we are bereft of comforts we have previously relied on as a foundation, it is often the authentic things of value that remain. Learning how to use our pain does not nullify it, rather, it makes it work for something good not only for ourselves, but also for others.
This year has sometimes felt like a cruel master, but the lessons can prove to be powerful to our destiny, depending upon our response to them. We have the choice to speak with boldness and hope about what 2020 has taught us, even if it has not gone to plan.
WORDS BY
Rachel Calland
