Oh, 2020.

Well, well, well. This year certainly hasn’t been anything at all like any of us thought it would be— and that’s okay, I guess. It’s been painful for so many (see: global pandemic), and has revealed many ugly truths about systems in place and their inherent deficiencies. However, we will get through it. We always do; and here’s why.

I’ll start by saying this: if 2020 has taught me anything (and this is a lesson I believe I’ve needed to learn for many years before now), it’s that you can’t tie anything in life to expectation. You can’t expect things to pan out one way or another way. You can’t expect a situation to be something (because trust me, it won’t be). You have to live; you have to keep moving forward; you have to take it day by day, moment by moment, and be fully present in the “now”. 

Things won’t always be perfect. Hell, perfect situations in this world don’t even exist. When you project your idea of “perfection” onto anything (or anyone, for that matter) you are setting yourself up for disappointment, and, frankly, being unfair— to both yourself and everyone else. Nobody’s perfect, and projecting is just an extension of our own ego leading us down a path of bitterness, resentment, and (once again) disappointment.

I’m not saying don’t hope or strive for anything; that’s not what I’m getting at here. Hope is all we have, really, and I’m an eternal optimist always looking forward to the future. I’m saying that it won’t always be easy, and maybe “perfect” won’t look like the carbon copy you’ve created in your mind... and that’s okay. 

2020 is a lot of things, but it’s a hell of a great example as to why we can’t project “perfection” onto anything. Life is weird, and hard, and tricky, and joyous, and wonderful, and wild all at once. And there can be pain. Inevitably, there will be pain. And we can grieve it. We can rest. And, like I said, that’s okay! But... we can also rise.

Life can be all of those things (sometimes all at once?), and still yet we can go with the flow. We can ride the waves. We can strive toward a better future and work hard to be the change we want to see, all while accepting the setbacks and hard times that might occur. We can do all of those things simultaneously, and end our urge to seek out “perfection” in any given situation. We can simply exist, and strive for better, and allow that to be exactly enough for now... because right now, we are exactly where we are supposed to be. 

xoxo, MM.