As I watched the 2010s decade end, I couldn’t help but reflect on it. I have to be honest, the past 10 years have been difficult. I’ve lost important people in my life like my father and my grandfather, I began, and ended, my first relationship, came out as bisexual, and then again as gay, seen friendships come and go, cried, screamed, and struggled.
What I have learned these past several, long years is that life is incredibly hard and there are so many obstacles – some bigger than others – and it can tear you down until you feel like nothing will get better. The world is so cruel, and it hurts you in ways you do not deserve. I tried to believe the phrase that what you put out in the world will come back to you, so I have always tried to be kind and giving and grateful and dedicated and expected the world to be the same to me, except it isn’t. This is how I felt for most of the decade, after bad thing after bad thing seemed to keep occurring.
But this decade also taught me that this isn’t the truth.
The truth is that, yes, life can challenge you in ways you never thought possible, but it can also bring you some of the most incredible gifts you will ever receive. This decade I graduated high school, started college, traveled around the country, worked many jobs, met so many wonderful and beautiful people, laughed until I cried, helped others, learned so much, been so supported, felt so loved.
This is what I want to continue to remind myself and you, reader, as we enter this new year, and decade, together. Good things are coming, I know this for a fact. I’ve never really been one to do resolutions, so instead I phrase them as goals or hopeful achievements. This year, I want to get a better grasp on my health, physical, mental and emotional, and I want to have more fun and enjoy as many good things as I possibly can so I can stop focusing so hard on the bad things I’ve endured. There will always be obstacles in my path, I know that hard truth, but I’m big enough, strong enough and empowered enough to plow through them to reach my final destination of happiness.
I know this is possible. Good things are coming. 2020, I have so much faith in you.