Like the person that owned this car I never thought I would be where I am at today. 2020 was a life changing year. My decisions… my actions… have left me with a lot of thoughts and mixed emotions. In the wake of this year is failed relationships, anger, and pain. Many people around me have suffered greatly. I know that sounds like a horrible way to start a blog post, but its not all bad.
For years I have been unhappy. The people closest to me paid dearly for that. I lied about being happy when I wasn’t. I felt guilty for feeling so miserable when I had so much. I discovered this year who my friends are. I learned what forgiveness really means. There are days its ok to mourn. I’m learning to be happy. I’m learning about myself.
I could give a big long history and a play by play of what happened and how I got here, but the lessons would be lost in the details. To be honest a lot of it is just painful. This is what I learned this year.
If you aren’t happy, you can’t make someone else happy. Happiness comes from within. I’ve seen people, in my life as a photographer, in horrible situations who are still happy. In that moment they had no reason to be happy, but they are. That strength always amazed me. I focused so much of my time and efforts on making others happy I neglected myself.
You only get one shot. It sounds morbid, but its true. You only have so many days to walk this planet, and its too short to be miserable or cause great misery. It doesn’t mean you or I will have an easy life. I certainly don’t ask for that. Searching for the easy life will also bring misery.
Not all decisions are going to be correct ones. For many years I have had a Facebook. I look back and see all the bad that came from it. I didn’t delete my Facebook because of some political reasons or protest. When I sat down and thought about the years of being on that platform, and all the toxicity on it I needed to get it out of my life. At first I started with blocking over half the people on my friends list because of rumors, misconceptions, and other personal issues. That decision caused more pain for some people including family, and it wasn’t a correct decision. What I needed to do was to just cut it out of my life, like sugar. I can come up with many examples, but in the end not all decisions are right. When you encounter one of these decisions its important to take immediate action to correct it.
You can’t live with guilt. Guilt is a anchor to hold you in the past. Your past is your past. Forgive yourself move on. After all God can forgive you, and move on. You should allow yourself to forgive yourself as well.
Get to know yourself. I realized I have neglected myself. I have no idea who I am. Over the years I focused on everyone else in my life. There have been many times I have been asked if I liked something, or presented with a deep personal question. I found myself sitting there with little or no idea on how to answer or address it. This year I’m discovering who I am.
I’ve posted some personal stuff here, so I feel like this was a good way to share and wrap up 2020. Here comes 2021. I’m excited about the future, the struggle, and charging forward in this new chapter in this book called life.