I know when I say that 2020 could be the year where everything changed for the better , you would beg to differ because the odds are pretty high. Remember when 2019 drew to a close, most of us were making new year resolutions, we were planning a year where we’d quit a bad habit , pursue our dreams or even let go of fears that had held us back. But as the year commenced and, in a month, everything seemed like the worst thing that could ever happen to you. You faced a major setback in life. Right now, while we’re in the middle of it, it feels like nothing could be worse.
First came the pandemic. Then the economic downturn, unemployment and financial insecurity. And now, the acknowledgment of long-standing racial injustices that make us doubt our very humanity. The masks we wore to feel in control of our lives have been snatched away and we’ve been brought face to face with reality. But from this raw and fragile place, I believe something beautiful can emerge. The year 2020 can, in fact, become the best year of our lives. And yet, not in the way we’d imagined when it was fresh and new.
With the gift of perspective, when you look back months, years, even decades later, you’ll smile at how what happened turned out to be the best thing possible. And I think that’s how 2020 should be remembered.
This year can be the one when our humanity can be born again. When we recognize that the baggage, we’ve been dragging is only weighing us down and learn to value the sacred interconnectedness that binds us. Because at the end of the day we are each other’s only safekeepers. Each other’s only hope.
Let me give you an example, During the birthing process, the mother has to sometimes go through excruciating pain, she would have had moments where she wishes she could give up. She starts to lose hope but she remembers at times when you start losing hope , you have to find strength in the vision of something beautiful about to be born. Like the sound of a little heartbeat, however faint, that keeps ticking helps her get through the process.
Even we can hear that sound in the many acts of goodness we’ve seen over the past few months. First, in the frontline workers, whose bravery brought tears to our eyes as these individuals put their lives at risk to heal, feed, and help those in need. Now, in the hundreds of thousands who are voicing their cries for peace and fighting for a world where human lives are no longer stolen because of the colour of their skin. Human goodness is the heartbeat of our societies, it’s the magical potion that takes our breath away.
Just like the mother does her part in order for an unborn baby to emerge into the world, we all have an important role to play in our planet’s emergence. It’s the role we were given through the gift of life—to spread love and light. It really is the ultimate purpose of life and one that we forget as we go about our dreams and ambitions. Personal goals are important, but not at the expense of what makes us human.
Here’s a way you could fulfil this essential role that I find particularly helpful. Think of yourself like a drop of water being released into the ocean. Because isn’t that who we really are—little droplets in this vast ocean of life?
The waves you create determine the lives you impact and the mark you make in this world. If you live your life in fear, you weaken your soul and create only a few waves. You’re only able to connect with family, friends, and your religious, cultural, or political communities—the people who you think of as “like me.’’, You don’t make an effort to go about and connect with people. You try to stay in your comfort zone and not experience life in its fullest.
But if you own your worth, your heart and soulful life creates waves that extend far into the richness of humanity until they become one with the ocean. That’s what the world needs of us. It always did. But now it isn’t giving us a choice. So, take some time today to think about the waves you’re creating. How far do they go? How many circles are you creating? Who are the people in them? And what will you do to extend your waves, one circle at a time? You may want to begin with one person, or an entire community. You may want to start closer to home or step farther away from your comfort zone. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you begin, What matters is that you try , and what matters is that you always remember that the strongest steel has to go through the hottest fire.
