Today is the first day of a New Year and with that comes many people making resolutions or setting new goals for the year. I had a word of the year for 2020 and it helped me a lot during the year. After having been homeless for half of 2019, I figured I’d hop on the “Word of the Year” bandwagon last year.

A word of the year aligns with my belief in the Law of Attraction; you manifest your reality. Having a word to focus on, much like having a vision board, truly helped me AIM in 2020 in more ways than one.

And so, last year, the word of the year for me was AIM. I even made a Perler Bead craft of the word that still sits at my desk to remind me to aim for my goals in business, life, and motherhood. While I am going to choose a word for 2021, I haven’t selected it yet. There’s a couple waiting in my mind to determine which one suits 2021 for me best.

Anyhoo, I wanted to hop on and write a little bit about the changes I’ve made in 2020 to protect my mental health, which will be similar to my tips on how to protect your mental health while you work on social media. I’ve noticed a growing sense of divide in our country, and social media, over the last few years. 2020 only made it worse.

My heart ached watching people be absolutely unruly to each other. Bullying and harassing some who didn’t think or feel the same way they felt. It was as if I’d stepped back in time and was living high school all over again.  I was getting really upset until it dawned on me that I cannot change another human being.

If that person or those people wish to attack and cancel another person for whatever reason, not a single soul can stop them. Some people are very passionate and too far mad, some can blame 2020 for such madness, that they’re not willing to look in the mirror.

We’ve stopped teaching people (and children) about individual responsibility. It’s important, but alas, it’s nothing I can teach a person on social media who hasn’t a clue who I am at all.

So, I take breaks from social media quite often. I share less of my family photos, and personal time with my community.

Do I miss it?

Yes, of course, I miss oversharing and discussing all of those ups and downs with the community that I once felt so connected to, but sadly, a few bad apples made me realize that some things simply don’t need to be on the internet anymore.

How to Protect Yourself in 2021

• Stop spending so much time on the internet.
• Unfollow or unfriend people that just cause you stressful or negative feelings too frequently on social media.
• Spend more time with loved ones, even if virtual.
• Gather some books to read and new activities that you can enjoy at home, to detach from the real world.

What will 2021 Bring?

Perhaps that’s the direction of the current times.

Maybe 2021 will become the year in which we start looking in the mirror to build ourselves up.

Perhaps 2021 will become the year where more people realize that if they can just change one thing about “how they think” that a small part of their life will get better, eventually.

Just maybe, 2021 can bring out that goodness inside of people again. People can start to see a bit of change in a positive direction so that they can feel a little brighter.

I’m not oblivious that far more people have been stuck alone, without community in their real-life for almost a year, I’m not oblivious to how hardship after hardship can impact a person’s wellbeing.

I’ve had plenty of hardships throughout my 39 years of life. I get it.

That’s why I chose to reduce my exposure to social media because I can have empathy for those who got hit real hard this year. I get it. I truly feel the sadness and anger that they have. I take it all in as I read their social media updates.

This drains my soul.

And then?

I sit here wondering how I can help. What I can do. Is there anything someone from another area of the country can even do?

And then?

I realize that it’s not on me to fix someone else. It’s not on me to do anything, other than continuing to write what I write. Share what I share. Do what I do. AND hope that something I say or share along the way helps someone out there who is hurting just a little bit. Even the tiniest bit of sunshine that I can lend via social media to someone else makes me feel like the world isn’t so lost after all.

Eh, whatever’s going on in the world, it’s true that it’s quite broken. Some of our real historical events are repeating themselves and people are just fighting too much. I don’t like it. I can understand it. BUT I don’t have to like it.

So, as I say goodbye to 2020 and hello to 2021, my simple wishes are:

• that everyone reduces the time that they watch mainstream news and surf social media.
• that everyone increases the time they spend calling a friend or family member just to say hello.
• that everyone starts working on healing their inner self so that they can find their own sunshine inside, eventually.
• that everyone pauses more often before speaking (or typing).
• that we all learn to embrace our differences, because that’s what makes us so awesome … all of our individual qualities, personalities, and beliefs!

In conclusion, I just hope to see more compassion, more empathy, more hard work on self and other areas in life, and I hope to see less judgment for how someone else chooses to parent, live their life, and be as an individual person.

We all have the right to be who we are, and it’s not on someone else to TELL US how to be, you can share knowledge and experiences, but you cannot tell another person how to feel or what they must believe and require that they do so or else … let’s embrace each other in 2021. Learn to be okay with not liking everything someone else says or does.