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This post started as an analogy for 2020. It has become something much, much more. If there were one post I would want others to read, I would hope it to be this one. This one is BY FAR the most personal, at least for me.

This is just a screenshot from a video. The video is on Facebook. But the importance is this.

With a new year, I am going to take a step forward. I do NOT like my picture to be taken! Those who know me know this VERY well. However, I was never really willing to admit why I don’t like my picture taken. I don’t like my picture to be taken (or to look in the mirror or see a reflection) because what I see is not what I think. In my mind, I can create any picture of myself I desire. Sometimes it is positive. Sometimes it is negative. But it is at least usually something I can live with. When I look at a picture of myself, I can see ONLY flaws. Negatives. Things I wish were different. Things I can not change or delete in my mind. To see myself in a picture can be devastating to me…

I do not think I am the only one who experiences these thoughts and feelings… In fact, as I look around the world, I think many of us are feeling devastated… in so many different ways. And yet, WE SHOULD NOT! I SEE SO MUCH BEAUTY IN THIS WORLD IN EVERYONE I MEET! But I also see the sadness, the desperation, the hopelessness, the anxiety, the fear, the hatred…

In 2021, I still may not like what I see in the pictures I take… but I am going to take some anyways. I still may be able to find many more negatives than positives… but I WILL find some positives! It WILL be terrifying to me to put these pictures and videos into a public space, but I will do this as well.

I, like yourself, deserve to be loved. But this I know, it is not possible to be loved by others if you do not love yourself. If there is one thing I desire from the year 2021, it is that EACH of us can take just a SMALL step forward in loving ourselves, whatever that might mean. For me, it is a few pictures and maybe a video or two. For you?

Happy New Year, Everyone! I wish you the best in 2021. Much love, peace, and happiness!