Hindsight is not 20/20
We place a lot of pressure on our ability to look back and acknowledge what really happened. But what we see is really just our perception and not perfect vision. When you look back over your own shoulder, you can’t see everything because your head doesn’t swivel enough. If it did, we might be tempted to look back too often.
Did that really happen?
When I look back with a long view over a lot of time, my thoughts summarize the highlights of the challenges. My particular view comes from my own insights and is bent toward the negative experiences. I have to really try to think about the great things that happened. Just like our daily memories, the highlight of the day and the end of the day bubble up with importance. If history was told through these memories, much of it would be left out.
My hindsight word
I have decided to boil down this year to a word. I don’t know what it is yet but I am working on it. This word is going to serve as my reminder of the whole year so it is super important. I might even have enough thoughts about 2020 that I believe this year was more important than others. But I may be giving this past year more importance than others due to global bias and all those reminders that we are all going through something together. I think we really need to remember that part. The fact that we are all in this together should affect everything we choose to do moving forward.
Looking ahead
While I am thinking about words, I am going to carefully choose my hindsight word for the end of 2021 now. It will serve as an intentional influencer for me to help mold my year around a thought. While I am at it, creating a pre-hindsight word will power next year’s review. Every year is important and every moment shapes every year. Focusing on the future will be lovelier if I am the artist creating it.
Can you intentionally look ahead and create what you want to find next year? Can you capture the essence of what powered the last year? What can you keep from this year?
