5 Ways to Rise Above the Negativity in 2021
Hi Everybody,
I hope you’re staying safe and healthy and finding creative ways to enjoy your holidays. It’s been all Zoom for us this year, but our hearts are filled with gratitude and we’re enjoying plenty of laughs any way we can get them!
As I began writing this newsletter, I came across a quote that I love:
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”—Eleanor Roosevelt
For some of us, that thing we thought we couldn’t do might have been making it through 2020. But we’re almost there!
And in that spirit . . .
5 Ways to Rise Above the Negativity in 2021
Whenever I share my favorite reinvention tips, one that I never leave out is to rise above the negativity. Because wherever we’re headed, there will always be people who tell us why we can’t or shouldn’t do whatever it is we want to do. We just have to decide to shrug them off and do it anyway.
But 2020 has taken negativity to a whole new level. Wave after wave of pain and suffering and divisiveness can start to make us feel like we’re drowning. Plus, we’re missing hugs and mask-free smiles. Even the dogs walking on the socially distanced beach are probably wondering why strangers don’t reach over to pet them anymore.
Two-legged or four-legged, we’ll get through this. And in the meantime, here are 5 ways to rise above the negativity in 2021:
1. Focus on what you can control. Turn off the news and start a creative project, a passion project, something that requires you to focus, brings you joy, helps your pandemic anxiety float away. Your project can be a stretch or something totally mindless. Don’t worry about whether or not it’s productive or if you’re talented enough. Set a schedule and let it become something you look forward to. For me, it’s writing my next book. For you, it might be a book, too. (If so, check out Never Too Late for some tips.) Or it could be creating a metal sculpture like Melanie in my novel Time Flies or making sea glass jewelry like Ginger in Life’s a Beach or going back to school like March in Multiple Choice or becoming a home stager like Sandra in Best Staged Plans or a makeup artist like Bella in Summer Blowout. Maybe it’s time to finally start that blog or photo journal or cookbook or podcast you keep meaning to get around to. Or maybe Shine On: How To Grow Awesome Instead of Old will give you some ideas for bringing some fun into your life.
(P.S. If you’ve already started or are about to start a new project, I’d love to hear about it! Just reply to this newsletter.)
2. Do one good thing every day. When there’s so much need swirling around us, it’s a fine line between empathy and overwhelm. So just pick one thing. Make a donation to a food bank. Check in with a neighbor who lives alone. Recently I bagged up all our old towels and blankets, along with a case of cat food and a fluffy cat bed, and dropped them off at an animal shelter that had just put out the word they needed blankets and beds to keep the animals warm during a cold snap. Then I let myself off the hook for the rest of the day. Tomorrow I might call an old friend. Today I’m sharing this list, in the hopes that it will be just the thing somebody reading it right now needs.
3. Develop your attitude of gratitude. Each morning write three things you’re grateful for in a gratitude journal. Or write each one on a separate brightly colored sticky note and watch them add up until you’ve covered an entire wall with them. Or maybe as you’re falling asleep at night, you count the things you’re grateful for instead of sheep. Whatever works for you. However we choose to do it, when we practice gratitude our brains release serotonin and dopamine, the neurotransmitters that make us feel better. And we could all use a little better right now.
4. Get moving. I don’t know about you, but I need all the endorphins, those opiate-like chemicals released by exercise, I can get these days. Beyond the massive physical and mental benefits of exercise, being out in nature just soothes my soul. I’m lucky enough to be able to take a physically distanced walk on the beach every day, often with my imaginary friends from The Wildwater Walking Club. I just got an email from a reader who’s been strapping on her Fitbit and circling around and around her yard every day, because that’s the best she can do right now. There’s always a way! If you need an accountability partner, you might even consider adopting a dog from a shelter to be your walking buddy. (See #1 above!) If you want to get your workout in without leaving your house, there are also some great free workout videos on YouTube. (My latest favorite is the Bollywood Dance Workout.)
5. Ditch your don’ts. You don’t do Zoom, or you don’t do ebooks. You don’t do online exercise or online dating or online classes or streaming. I get it. We’d rather talk to people in person. We love the heft of a paper book, the smell of new pages. But just because we prefer one way of doing things doesn’t mean we should close ourselves off to other opportunities. There are so many wonderful free and low-cost things we can do from the safety of our homes right now. A new year is the perfect time to shake off the insecurities that come with every learning curve, to allow ourselves to be embarrassingly bad at something because that’s the only way to get better, and try something new. So pick one of your don’ts, start Googling, and figure out how to turn it into a do.
Let me know how it goes!
CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now a 7-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 21 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women, including Life Glows On: Reconnecting with Your Creativity to Make the Rest Of Your Life the Best of Your Life
