My Favourite Quotes And How They Helped Me Survive 2020

My Favourite Quotes And How They Helped Me Survive 2020

Introduction:

So it’s the final week of 2020- WE MADE IT (DANCES!) and what a roller coaster this year has been. Honestly i can say that between my disease, the global pandemic, my mental health, and everything else that has come my way, this year has been nothing short of transformative. It’s funny, because when you think about everything this year threw at me, you’d think i would be coming out of it all feeling worse than ever, but the opposite is actually true. I did alot of soul searching this year, and had my perspective well and truly shifted as the world was thrown into tumult and plans i had been looking forward to for years had to be cancelled in order to keep the people i love, and myself as a vulnerable person, safe. I read alot of self development books, and also spend a large amount of my time reading wisdom from figures like The Dalai Lama, Brene Brown, and Eckhart Tolle. Without their words, i think i would have had a far more difficult experience navigating this year and all it’s insanity, so i thought i’d share my favourites with you and tell you how they helped me this year.

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Keep Moving Forward!

If there’s anyone I would like to sit down to coffee with, it’s Walt Disney. This quote for me really summed up the reality of 2020. Alot of it was simply gritting my teeth and continuing on, even though i felt like giving up and all the events i had been looking forward to got moved. I’ve also gotten way better at bouncing back after a bad flare, and that is in part because everytime i am in pain, or exhausted, i tell myself to Keep moving forward even if it’s only by a single step.

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You Can Wallow… Or you can fight.

Just when i thought i’d accepted the fact that i have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, this whole pandemic struck and i was left feeling more vulnerable than ever. I also witnessed people reacting to having their personal freedom limited by circumstances outside their control and dealing with it exactly as i had five years ago. It made me realise that i am too hard on myself, and that my struggle with my own limitations wasn’t weakness, but totally human and normal. I also learned that given the choice of being sad and giving up or rising and carrying on, i always rise- and that’s what really matters.

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Acts of kindness matter- even the small ones.

The pandemic this year brought out alot of negativity in the news and it seemed completely overwhelming. Between the Black Lives Matter marches, the US election, and people arguing about whether or not they wanted to wear masks, social media made the world seem kind of brutal. However, turning off my socials for a while made me see another side to the pandemic too. A friend of mine- Jessica Cozens i’m talking about you- reached out even though we hadn’t spoken in years, and offered to do my shopping if i was too high risk to leave the house. My friend Katherine Campbell also skyped me a ton and we had ALOT of fun on Animal Crossing! I watched families getting creative using Zoom, and found myself grinning from ear to ear when readers sent me beautiful gifts and letters even though i couldn’t make it out to meet them like i wanted. I think it’s easy to see and focus on everything that’s going wrong in a year like 2020, but i also found that the simplest acts of kindness could turn my entire day around. Kindness matters, even if it’s something small, it really can make a difference to someone.

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The little things are sometimes the best things…

There’s nothing like a global pandemic to make you appreciate being able to get a coffee at starbucks for the first time in four months; or a hug from a friend, or time with loved ones because you can’t leave the house. I also started appreciating things i didn’t expect, like being able to get out and go for my daily walk, my kindle and the world of books it provides at the touch of a button. When the world changes, we change too, but one thing that stayed the same was the support and love i received from family and friends, which i now appreciate more than ever before. Sometimes we need hardship to appreciate what we already have in the little things, like our health, and to stop focusing on what we’re lacking.

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Comparison is the thief of joy…

At the start of this year i was burned the heck out. I was flailing, and with the beginning of lockdown, i felt for sure my motivation and creative flow was going to be totally shot to hell. Then, when lockdown hit, i realised that i’ve been comparing myself to other authors far too much. I noticed this because authors i knew were writing thousands of words a day, finally found themselves dry as the desert when they were stuck inside with nothing to look forward to. The pandemic killed creativity in other authors, just as my disease sometimes hinders it in me. This has been my reality for a long time now, with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome ruling my schedule and dictating what i can do on any given day, and i realised that again, i’m not lazy. I’m goddamn human and it’s okay that sometimes my motivation gets crippled under a mountain of pain and depression. I was comparing myself to healthy authors, to authors with assistants to take care of their media and marketing. I’ve been comparing myself to other people since i started writing… and this year i realised that was incredibly stupid. I don’t want to be anyone else but me, and that means doing things in a way that is right for me and makes me happy. Because if you’re not loving what you’re doing everyday, what’s the point?

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Conclusion:

To conclude, i could have included so many quotes in this article, but these five are the ones i’ve really clung to this year. I feel good about 2021, and i think that this year has definitely made me stronger, despite being a total suckfest much of the time. It’s highlighted to me what’s important: Friends. Family. Happiness. Kindness, and Gratitude.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of 2020- I’ll see you next year!

Stay Sparkly,

Kristy Nicolle x