Well everyone, we did it! We made it to the end of 2020! And in all seriousness, you survived it. The uncertainty, the difficult days, the confusing days, perhaps even the dark days – you survived 100% of the days you weren’t sure you would. That’s great strength, great perseverance, and on this New Year’s Eve you should sit back just for a few moments and allow yourself to feel proud of that.
Perhaps you lost much in 2020, but remember that much remains. If today you lost everything you have but tomorrow you got it all back again, tomorrow would be the greatest day of your life. Count your blessings.
But what now? One thing I am concerned about is this idea that “we just have to get to 2021 and everything will be OK again”. But of course, there’s no pixie dust to be sprinkled at midnight. We will wake up with all of the same circumstances on January 1st as we went to bed with on December 31st. The only thing that can be different is our mindset and approach. Do you want to just survive 2021, or do you want to thrive?
I am a big believer that things don’t happen to you they happen for you. 2020 happened FOR YOU. So what did you become this year? How did you grow through it? What did you learn about yourself? About your family? What is different about you from January 2020 to December 2020?
So here we go 2021. Here’s a few mindset pointers for you to help you attack this year:
- Live in vision, not circumstance. Get a big, exciting vision for your year and live in it. Don’t look around at the circumstances, because those will change eventually. Be conscious of who and what you want to be, and go after that with great joy and enthusiasm.
- Set high standards for yourself. Put a high standard on your health, on your diet, on your relationships, on what comes out of your mouth, on how you serve, on how you treat people. Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, remove the unacceptable.
- In the book of Joshua, Caleb asks God to give him a mountain to climb. Do you know why he asked for that? Because he wanted to see what was inside of himself. Don’t you want to know what’s inside of you? I do!! 2021 will ask demands of you. It will ask for your gifts, so answer that call! Those who struggle in 2021 will be the ones who complain that life didn’t give into their demands. The greatest among us, the ones who will flourish, know that life is calling on us, demanding of us, and we’ve got to answer that call!
After a very tough year, the thought of another one is not what anyone wants to read. So how do we muster up the strength for another battle? You figure out why you want to become a better you, and you keep that out in front of you. You don’t flourish by going half speed, and you don’t grow by giving part of you. You grow by giving all that you’ve got.
I am proud that the Soccer Academy was here alongside your family in 2020. I hope that we provided some stability, some normality, the release of doing something your child loved at just the right times, positive challenges, and above all encouragement. We’ll be here again in 2021 and can’t wait to support all of our families by serving and pouring into all of you as we attack 2021 and make it the best year in the history of years!
Happy New Year everyone, here’s to thriving in 2021!
