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Here are some things/energy/vibes I want to bring into this year. This list will definitely change throughout but as of right now, here they are.

(Also last post as a teenager?? what??)

Show Hope

This was one I saw in a video, there was a whole story time but if I am being honest, I don’t remember most of it. But once I heard those words, that’s one of the only things I have been able to think about. There is so much cynicism & negativity everywhere. I think hope is different, in this sense, than positivity because it’s “it will be better than this” & not “make good of what you have.” I feel like hope implies a sense of moving forward, that things will be okay & better than what they are now. If I can be everything I want to be, someone who shows hope would be a good thing. I think I have been up & down with hope throughout my life but I am feeling incredibly hopeful about everything. Everyday I see a new thing that brings me more & more hope to my already bright life. “you have yet to meet everyone that will love you” is one that I love. Just the sense that no matter what happens, life persists & you continue on. I hope that the hope I am able to put out & show is a bit brighter than just “life goes” though.

I constantly switch between, “I have no focus, I don’t know what I want to do, other people already have what they want figured out” to “I have so many interests & would be so happy doing so many different things” but I mean they are one & the same. I hope the excitement & joy I have for the future is contagious enough to push out this hope for others.

Love & Be Loved/ Everything Is About Love

This will probably be one for the rest of my life, it has been for the past couple of years. “Love & be loved” in different forms has shown up so many times in the past few years. It was first in the instagram bio of someone I very briefly met but still really admire today. I don’t think this is a “hard rule,” as the only way to be loved is to love but I do believe everything comes around. I think I was very loved freshman year of high school & I tried to give out love the best I knew how as a fourteen year old. I guess that experience, goes better with “we accept the love we think we deserve” & less so “love & be loved” but I digress. I truly believe everything is about love & if it is not, it is about a lack of love. Love is in everything & everywhere, it’s just a matter of believing in it & finding it. I think sometimes people lose sight of love. Just look for it! I think it maybe easier than you think. It’s in the people who write your name on your coffee cup & add a little doodle, or your friend that texts you & says just thinking of you, or how you got the last croissant, or in the way you wake up & brush your teeth, knowing that in 40 years, you’ll be grateful. Love is in giving yourself grace when you missed a deadline or when you couldn’t make dinner so you had a plate of cheese & water. Love is in the parks with those little plaques that say those cute things, love is in the dent in the wall because the door handle kept hitting the same spot every time a friend came over. Love is so complicated but so simple to find.

5% Better

This is a new one from a podcast I just listened to tonight. It was this neuro-something or other and he was saying that working on yourself (through dealing with trauma, self-care, etc) was an investment & even if you are 5% better this year than you were last, 10 years from now, 5% every year will mean a lot. I think I often get overwhelmed by the idea of self improvement & being the best version I can be right now. The “toned-down” version of just 5% better really helped me understand I have a lot of time & I am still becoming a person. I know my version right now of who I want to be in the future may look very different than it will in five or ten years, but if I find ways to be better that I know will still align with who I want to be regardless of what my future hopes are.

Put Yourself in Places You Don’t Belong In

This one also came from the podcast but it’s something I have heard before & goes along with something else I wrote somewhere on here about self-rejection (maybe I imagined writing something about it- if I haven’t, I will). I have a lot of self limiting beliefs & a lot of anxiety when it comes to thinking how people will perceive me. But this year I want to just insert myself into spaces I would commonly not imagine myself in & see what comes of it. I am kind of tired of assuming & guessing how people will perceive me, & while it has sometimes been beneficial in the past, it is tiring & a hard way to live. New mindset: confidence of a mediocre man. (thanks for the help spelling mediocre, elizabeth!)

Conclusion

As this year progresses, I am sure all of these will change or expand but going in I feel like these are some good principles to bring in. WOOOOOO.