Get Ready for 2020!

Every year social media gets flooded with the same messages:

- This year was bad, next year must be better

- You must set goals (and you will be judged if you can’t achieve them)

- You must be happy in the New Year

It is so much pressure to look back at what you did and open boxes you’ve closed and somehow by the end of each year, you need to have your life together. You need to know exactly what you’ve done and what you MUST do next year.

Oh come on, cut me some slack!

Planning is great, I love planning and setting goals and looking back. And they are very healthy habits that I recommend to everyone. But why do we all need to do this at the same time? I don’t know. What is more, we need to make them public and look, at least a little bit, to other people around us, compare ourselves to them, set goals that we don’t need just because others can.

I remember the end of 2015 and then 2016 when I looked back on the worst two years of my life, two emotional rollercoasters, and all the pieces that I managed to glue back together were falling apart once again. I was not ready to look back and draw the line. And then, let’s not even talk about setting goals for the future. What future? I had no idea who I was, where I was and what comes next. I started finding answers to these questions only later in 2017 and to this day I keep searching and discovering.

Family and friends will constantly ask you about your future, love life, school and all private details. And you will meet with them a lot because that’s how holidays work. It hurts the most to be judged by them. It hurts to be forced to eat because people won’t understand that you are depressed and can’t eat. Some of their jokes hurt. I understand all the pain because I’ve been there. Trust me, you’ll develop mechanisms to cope with those too and heal yourself. I did that with the help of youth workers and I recommend that to everyone.

So, at the end of 2019, a youth worker myself, I will tell you that it is okay to be afraid. It is okay to NOT know what you want to do in 2020. It is okay to be confused. It is okay to NOT achieve your goals. It is okay to fail. It is okay to be sad. It is okay to feel tired. It is okay to stay in your comfort zone until you feel ready to get out of there. But, you should not let other people discourage you. Criticism can sometimes help you grow, but you need to learn how to use it. Take advantage of any opportunity that comes your way. You’ll figure it out one day. Maybe not tomorrow, not next year, maybe not even in ten years, but if you keep looking you will find what you need.

Take care of yourselves in the new year! I wish you all as much development as possible!