As tradition would have it, we have to start the new year off discussing goals and expectations for the year. I hope you all got a chance to view my 2020 review in my last blog post, but today I want to talk all things 2021. Obviously, we are treading lightly into this new year with life still being a big question mark. Though there are a number of things to be optimistic about, we don’t want to be overly ambitious with our expectations. However, I will never stop being overly ambitious with my personal goals.
Happy (almost) new year, everyone! We are almost done with this year that we all hope to forget. Though tomorrow won’t warp us out of the Twilight Zone, it feels good to no longer see 2020 on a calendar at least. I think we can collectively agree that we shouldn’t get too ahead of ourselves when it comes to expectations for this new year, but I certainly gained a new outlook on life after the last 10 months.
When you think of self-care, what comes to mind? Baths? Meditation? Spending $200 online for a serotonin boost? Honestly, same. But self-care isn’t all about spending money and face masks-the beauty kind anyway. It’s about investing time and energy back into oneself. Don’t get me wrong-I am all about buying things that make me happy, doing my skincare routine, and having a glass of wine. However, after a rough, anxious week, I had to do a little extra work on myself to start feeling ‘normal.’
Last week, my boyfriend shared someone’s tweet on his Instagram story that asked people to stop telling others that they have to love themselves in order to be worthy of love in return. We all know the saying that if you do not love yourself, how can you love someone else? It has gained increasing criticism as people realize there is a negative element that can be tied to this saying. It can suggest that you have to unpack all of your baggage and trauma before anyone can love you. But it’s scenarios like this that always remind me that studying communication will always be relevant and interesting. Intent, interpretation, and impact can completely obscure a message. In my experience, this saying has impacted me the opposite way and I will explain why.
Recently, I did a video as part of my Lex Behind the Lens series on my YouTube channel about knowing your worth. It surprisingly gained a lot of traction compared to the performance of my previous videos, but it was the first thing I thought of when I was reading this on his story. Another recent occurrence was that I ended a friendship after discovering this person was inherently not someone I wanted to continue befriending. To protect this post from derailing from the point, I will not express further why that friendship ended (if you know, you know), but I would not have been able to do that or feel confident enough to create a video about knowing my worth had I not been on a self-love journey for the last three years.
Lex in the City 