Read This If You’re Frustrated That 2020 Hasn’t Gone The Way You Planned

For all of you who are stuck in a frustrating rut because 2020 has not gone as you planned it to be, I just wanted you to know you’re not alone.

Maybe your year has been filled with stress, worry, isolation, anxiety, depression, loneliness, and maybe even heartbreak or loss. Please know and understand that as much as it feels like it, you are not alone. In a way, I feel 2020 has brought to light our feelings and emotions about our goals, where we’re at in life, or where we thought we would or should be.

It has forced us to slow down and take a step back. It’s also pushed us to our limits and showed us the tremendous amount of strength we all carry within us.

Let this time teach you patience with others as well as yourself. Let this time show you what is truly important in your life and who is truly important in your life. Let this time show you who and what you really love. Let this time show you who is really there when you need them and who you can be there for.

Let this time help you focus on what needs healing and how we can improve ourselves. Let this be a time to connect with yourself again, as well as connecting or reconnecting with others. Let these challenging times challenge you to make a difference and make a change.

We may not speak of it, but we all have our own struggles—working from home, working and teaching our children, or having no work at all. Maybe we feel stuck or held back from all these things we had planned for ourselves and for the future.

Maybe we feel trapped and long for that sense of adventure. Maybe we’ve all gone through things this year we never thought we would go through. Maybe it all feels different now because we realize what we had before. Maybe all of this has forced us to stop and take a closer look at ourselves. Maybe this year hasn’t gone as “planned” so we can truly focus on what is most important to us.

Maybe this year is trying to teach us that sometimes what we wanted or thought we wanted isn’t what is best for us.

I feel 2020 has brought to light so much for each and every one of us—our thoughts, our feelings, different emotions. 2020 has thrown some intense things at each and every one of us, and just because we may be afraid to talk about our individual situations doesn’t mean we’re alone. We’re actually even closer together. We are all trying to adjust to the new normal of life, and our lives may be filled with chaos.

But please remember you are not alone. Be gentle on yourself and know that it’s okay to slow down. Wherever you are right now is right where you are supposed to be.