2020 Vision: Hope and Plan

Welp. Here we are. A new decade (and no, I'm not going to fight with you whether the real new decade starts at 2021, so sod off). Twenty-nineteen was a hard, awful year, personally and worldwide, so my plan is to crash into 2020 with hope and a plan to make things better in whatever small way I can.

I'm not a resolution-maker. Any goals I may have for a year might have unexpected results. Lose weight? Twenty-nineteen saw several dear friends given hard health diagnoses that, yeah, caused pretty severe weight loss, so I can live with my 20+ unwanted pounds. I might need them if a disease time bomb is ticking away inside me right now. Some might see this as a depressing attitude, but I see one guilt-laden thing that I can release. Whoosh - off you go! (Pass the pie.)

So, I don't resolve. I hope and plan. That's my 2020 vision.

I plan to find one thing - ONE thing - that I can do to chip away at racial and religious prejudice. It's eating us alive. I'm looking for what I can do to help. Taking all suggestions - I hope I find something and plan to get active, praying any unexpected results are positive.

I hope to get my money-chaos straightened out and have a plan, but I say that every year, so pffffft. We'll see.

I plan to read more books than I did last year (76, if you're interested). At least one-third of those books should be outside my comfort zone - more ethnic authors, more non-fiction, more controversial reads. I did a pretty good job last year, so I can't wait to see how this plan works out for 2020.

I plan to get rid of negative social media. I've already deactivated Twitter, purged my negative Facebook connections (or hidden the negative folks I can't unfriend), and plan to avoid all news comment sections. I hope this makes me less cynical, negative, stressed, and angry. I plan to take action rather than be a commenter on the sidelines. Action is always full of hope.

I plan to get to the dentist twice a year, schedule my annual physical, and get to the dermatologist, hoping that the only thing wrong with me is that I'm getting old.

What I don't need a plan for is loving my family and friends. I've had years of experience doing just that, and I will continue to be as good a mother, mother-in-law, GrandMary, sister, aunt, cousin, and friend as I can be. If I'm off-track on that love-thing, I hope you'll let me know.

So, 2020, bring it. Let's see how clear my vision will be this time next year. Happy New Year, y'all!