Around this time last year, I wrote a reflection. 2019 was a tough year for me— but in many ways, it prepared me to face 2020. As this year comes to a close, I echo the same sentiments.
In the midst of broken roads, missed trajectories, and the incessant fear of the unknown, some things remained unchanged. The strength we gathered, the values that remained intact, the relationships and loyalties that survived, and the dreams that never seem to fade— these are what we will carry into 2021.
If anything, 2020 was a litmus test. This year did not change people; It simply revealed who we are. Someone told me that if you could face yourself in the mirror and know you did all you can, with good in your heart, then you can already be proud.
Stay proud of yourself. You do not need to “try” to be positive. Close your eyes, and embrace all that has been good and bad. You might be surprised that you are so much better than what you perceive yourself to be.
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2019:
“Many people have reached out to me and asked, how am I being positive with all the challenges this year has brought?
I have a little theory. Call it a coping mechanism, if you will.
My belief is that pain is a shared human experience. No one is exempt from it. Those who go through disappointments and failures are presented with an equal opportunity to rise above them.
Not all of us can succeed in every instance, BUT in the times we DO, we allow ourselves to be living proof for someone who thinks they will not make it through...
So in times of discouragement, I look to people whose strength was formed by struggle. I remind myself that what I truly admire about them is the pain they overcame, and the triumph that represents. It is not about the outcome, but rather about the journey that brought them there.
So I tell myself to walk every peak and every valley— the great, the mediocre, the terrible. It is these times that form who we are, and give us the right to one day tell someone: “You will get through. I am proof that you can.”
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Last photo of the series taken by @jadapoonphotography . Make up @gabbie.makeup
#jadapoonphotography #breathe #challenges #criselconsunji #keepgoing #2021 #reflections
