Witnessing life unfold on social media on the last few hours of 2020 was interesting to see. The collective optimism that thundered through numerous posts reminded me why I love New Year’s Eve.
New Year’s Eve is the only night of the year where the world comes together to celebrate the hope of a new year, and for this to still be true after the year that was 2020 just strengthened my belief that 2021 might just be a better chapter for us after all.
For many years, I have been a stickler for rituals and writing down specific things I wanted to receive in the New Year. As a woman in my 20s, waiting until 12 midnight became sort of this anxiety-ridden rollercoaster of making sure I wrote down everything I wanted to have, and making sure I felt “good” because I didn’t want to carry any negative emotion into the New Year and risk not getting what I want on my list.
New Year’s Eve 2020, however, was different. After the year 2020 has been and the many sweet, unexpected turns it has brought to me and my family, I have come to realize one thing — maybe 2021 isn’t just about getting whatever is on our list but being rooted in our belief that no matter what happens, we know that we are never defeated because it is all working out for our highest good.
If there is anything 2020 taught us, it’s that life can turn out to be extremely different than what we’ve hoped for, but that doesn’t mean that it cannot be better than what we’ve wished for at the beginning of the year. It’s about remaining centered as we flow through life and understanding that while we cannot control the external circumstances, we can definitely change what’s within and in doing so, we change the world around us.
As a young, optimistic woman in my 20s, I have always prayed for circumstances around me to change. I always had a list of “I wish,” that pertained to things that were beyond my control and while I believe that our God is a God of miracles who can turn situations around in an instant, what has helped me the most in 2020 is looking within and sorting out my inner world.
I have come to understand that my perception of the world greatly depended on how I perceived things within. For the longest time, I have been stuck in a rut of wanting things to change externally in order for me to change within. I depended so much on my job changing or people treating me better or having more material things in the hopes that it would bring me the joy and peace that I’ve longed for.
I naively wrote down my “wishes” for a New Year out of the hope that I would finally be happy when they would come true. It was only through a fun yet exhaustive spiritual journey that I have come to realize that nothing will truly make me satisfied unless I continue to work with what was within me. To me, this is 2020’s biggest gift, and this is the wisdom that I am taking into 2021 — the calm inner knowing that as long as I was at peace within, I can get through anything outside of me.
And that belief is the foundation that I am building 2021 on, a reminder for me to remain steadfast in my faith and in my trust in the One who strengthens me. Thus, the change of perspective for me that instead of striving for what will be, I start my year grateful for what is. And instead of making me anxious, it is making me hopeful because if God got me through 2020 and the years before that, what else can He not do?
Wishing you all a peaceful 2021 – the best truly is yet to come.
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Taking a moment to celebrate my dad, Biboy Ravanes who turned a year wiser on January 6. I am who I am because of you and I thank you for all your sacrifices throughout the years. I know I say this often but that won’t stop me from saying it again, I am so blessed to have you as a father and now as a grandfather to my son. You are the best we could ask for.
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