Maybe it’s because social media skews toward negative thinking, but it’s starting to weird me out that people attribute so much negativity to what year it is.
“This is so 2020.”
“I can’t wait until 2020 is over so I can finally be happy in 2021.”
“After my 7 day free trial of 2021 I’ve decided to cancel.”
This is the same mindset that many people have with money, specifically how much they make.
“Once I start making $60,000 I’ll be happy.”
“Did I say $60,000? I meant $80,000, forgot to adjust for inflation.”
“I mean I’m that close, why not get to six figures? Then I’ll really be happy.”
What each of these scenarios have in common is that they are stories we tell ourselves; stories that can be changed with simple changes in perspective.
“Look at all that I’ve accomplished in 2020 despite some seriously fucked up circumstances. I wonder what’s in store for me in 2021!”
“I’m so blessed to be able to have a job and get paid money to provide value to others. Where can I spend my money that will bring me the most happiness in return?”
Every year will suck when only the negative parts of the year are highlighted.
There will never be enough income in the world if we don’t understand where money is being spent and we are constantly keeping up the Joneses.
A negative mindset is like living in a prison with a wide open front door and refusing to walk out. The world will open up with a simple shift in mindset. “I want everything” changing to “I’ve got everything I need” is a huge mental shift. Similarly, changing from “2020: worst year ever” to “2020: the year I overcame adversity” takes the power back from our circumstances and puts it back in our hands. We are no longer the victims in that perspective. All we have to do is walk out the front door.
Cheers to 2021 and beyond: not because it isn’t 2020 anymore, but because we will never let what year it is bring us down any longer.
Every year from this point forward will be judged on how much we grow from adversity, not the adversity itself.
Mindful Cents 
I agree with the writer. It is all about how you look at life and most definitely how you allow, or not allow, others to influence you or how one wants to think whether a period in time sucks.
For me, in 2020 I was unemployed for 10-months, lost two close members of our circle, moved to another city away from my most precious friends, all the work to move to the new city and then moved again within the city, had a person hit and run our car, our apartment was flooded due to a piping break under the slab of the apartment, some family members got Covid, like everybody else we have been locked down, had a tire blow out on my car in the rain….the list can go on and on.
What made 2020 a great and maybe best year ever are things like learning a new city, buying a new house, new jobs with new challenges, a new kitten, a new precious baby in the family that we will one day see, hope and connection with family, so many good conversations that comes with date nights at home, the unexpected pop-in of a best friends traveling through our new city…..the list can go on and on.
I back-stop the publisher of this article in that: no year has to suck – you and you alone chooses how to look at life’s challenges and gifts. And yup, keeping up with the Joneses is a losing proposition because (as the author intimates) there are ever more Joneses as one moves upwards, or downwards, throughout our lives.
Great editorial, appreciate Mindful Cents.
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