***Mindful Alert*** 2020 Vision

Something that I have noticed in searching for quotes for the new year, is the number of them that talk about the “New Year, New You” and how a new year is regarded a “blank book” to “start over”. This year has been a really strange year, full of grief for so many people and the isolation of others, but it has given people the chance to reflect on their situations, their goals, but more importantly, themselves; what they appreciate most in life and their priorities.

For me, it has really highlighted the importance of my family and reemphasised how grateful I am for my animals, for how they just seem to know when they are needed.

With that said, I had started to draft my New Year post but as I read it back I realised that it was full of the toxic positivity I was going to write another post about, not detailing any of the negatives of the year as it wasn’t a positive enough post. Truthfully, it has been such a difficult year that I felt me talking about losing confidence with my horse riding just wasn’t worth the words being typed, but that was wrong. I was once told that just because someone else’s struggle may be more difficult, it doesn’t make your struggle less difficult for you. There was a positive to the struggle too. I reached out to Mindful Riding, I’ve had mindset calls and have been lucky enough to become a Brand Ambassador, which has not only been a massive help for my mindset, but it gave me the inspiration I needed to get back to writing on here, something else I am incredibly grateful for.

Anyway, my original thoughts on this post were those opposing the new year quotes that we so often see. If the year has taught me anything it is to take the time that you need, breath, acknowledge your struggles and work with them, not against them. The more I think about it, the stronger I feel that it isn’t about becoming a “new you” or “starting over”, that if perspectives are changed then what it really means is to celebrate your strengths, be aware of your weaknesses and areas of yourself that you wish to change and work on them every day, thus creating the version of yourself that you aspire to be, without changing the person that you are. That if you “start over”, the attitude is moving forwards without learning from your mistakes, when it could be beneficial to think of those mistakes, acknowledge them for what they are and decide on how you would approach the issue next time, using them as a learning experience to better yourself. It all comes back to being mindful – something the year has given so many people the chance to think about and maybe that is a positive that can be taken from a year that will be remembered so negatively.

Here are a few quotes that I think are worthy of taking into 2021 💌 Regardless of how the year may go, I hope to practise taking a moment to breath when I need to, to appreciate all I have (even when I acknowledge that things may be difficult), I will try remain positive and always have hope… even during these strange times, things have had a funny way of working out 💖

Happy New Year 🥂