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2020 has been a year we’ll never forget. While we may have started the year in hope, it’s been a struggle for so many of us, and the implications of recent events will have lasting effects — some of them life-altering.
However, when we reach the point of wanting to give up and we start to lose hope, we need to consider what’s really important. And a message posted by Beverly Geer that’s also been appearing on various social media platforms is an inspiring reminder:
Sometimes I just want it to stop. Talk of COVID, protests, looting, brutality. I lose my way. I become convinced that this “new normal” is real life. Then I meet an 87-year-old who talks of living through polio, diphtheria, Vietnam protests and yet is still enchanted with life.He seemed surprised when I said that 2020 must be especially challenging for him. “No,” he said slowly, looking me straight in the eyes. “I learned a long time ago to not see the world through the printed headlines, I see the world through the people that surround me. I see the world with the realization that we love big. Therefore, I just choose to write my own headlines. “Husband loves wife today.“ “Family drops everything to come to Grandma’s bedside.” He patted my hand. “Old man makes new friend.”
His words collide with my worries, freeing them from the tether I had been holding tight. They float away. I am left with a renewed spirit. My headline now reads “Woman overwhelmed by the spirit of kindness and the reminder that our capacity to love is never-ending “
Take the time to read it and let it sink in. Take the time to apply it to your own lives and re-write your headlines for 2020. You could even get your kids to do it, too. It’s similar to a gratitude journal, but in headline form it’s a quick reminder of everything that is right when lots of things seem to be falling apart.
Read more:
How to manage your news intake to avoid increased anxiety about the coronavirus
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The crucial lesson we can learn from an elderly woman who was eating alone
