2019: The Year of Gifts

2019 has been a year filled with many gifts. I am grateful for both the good and challenging moments I have been through. As I sit here reflecting during these chilly ending days of December, I wanted to share with you all lessons I learned this year.

Everyone is living in their own realities: Our world is filled with so much diversity, a mixture of people who have different perspectives, backgrounds, religious affiliations, and many other attributes. Based off our own realities, we believe we all come with warm hearts and senses of compassion. We all must have open hearts of understanding and acceptance to hear other sides, rather than create judgements. We must accept our own biases and bridge gaps among each other in order to heal the divisiveness taking place in our country. It is crucial to be authentically kind and accepting in order to understand and respect what others believe to be true.

Power of Authenticity: Being authentic with yourself allows you to personally grow and deepen your relationships with friends, families, and colleagues. Being vulnerable allows others to see you, as you, and to come to you with anything on their minds, without judgements. I still remember the time I came out to my friends and family, for them to see who I truly was. The power of removing that mask, my fake identity and persona, felt so good. Now, it may not be easy showing your true colors, but trust me, once you do, you will feel independent and free from what society wants you to become. All of us are broken, with scars seen and unseen. I really do believe the most important tangible thing we all strive for in this world, is connection with each other.

Solo Trips (if you can): Which brings me to my second point of solo trips. This year after working as a Program Coordinator for the Mandela Washington Fellowship program, I was burnt out and decided I needed to get away for a bit. So, I flew down to Savannah, GA, to do a week-long solo road trip to Charleston, SC, Charlotte, NC, Nashville, TN, and back to Savannah. I wanted to learn more about the Bible Belt and what it was all about. The media and others, particularly those in the Northeast, may cast stereotypes about our brothers and sisters in the South as being arrogant, uneducated, or even lazy. However, what I found was the exact opposite. Through my interactions, I found these people to be hard working, loving and accepting. It's important to realize not everyone has cold hearts and that we need to see life for ourselves outside our own bubbles rather than listening to pundits telling us what to believe. My first solo trip was empowering and will definitely not be my last.

Try to get things right the first time: I'll admit, this has been an ever growing challenge for me. But I'm making strides. A challenge I find for myself is organizing what needs to be done now versus what can wait for the near future. It's important to openly communicate with your supervisor or colleagues and not be afraid to ask questions or concerns you may have about your tasks. I learned it's also important to allow yourself breaks in between to have a new set of eyes on your assignments to see what changes need to be made. It never hurts to bring other perspectives in the mix to see what is good or needs improvement.

Listen more, talk less: In one of my graduate classes, we were tasked with a consulting project for a local nonprofit. Our professor instructed us to provide honest feedback to the organization in order to help them grow. My group was tasked with looking over their website and social media content while the other group was tasked with looking at their data sets to see ways the nonprofit can expand to other regions in Massachusetts. When my group was presenting our recommendations to the CEO and Executive Assistant, we were constantly stopped with rebuttals of changes they have already made. Do not be those people. You don't have to agree with every point someone gives you, but when someone gives you feedback, it's important to stop talking, take your ego out of the equation, and take in the feedback.

I'm Proud of You: Words all of us take for granted, especially me. I'll admit, there have been times this year I would feel stuck, feeling like I'm not progressing personally and professionally. Social media is the worst when it comes to this. But, I remind myself that God has plans for each of us. All of us are on our own individual journeys in life. I'm proud of myself for taking a risk at running for and serving now on the School Committee, completing a crazy semester of graduate school, traveling on my own, staying true to me, and most importantly (the one we often forget about) staying alive. The comparisons we make about each other only bring us down mentally and physically. Realize the mountains you climbed and the storms you pushed through this year that made you, you.

2019, thank you. Thank you for the many gifts and life lessons I learned along the way. I'm excited for what 2020 will bring to me, my family, and my friends. God bless you all.