Focusing Forward with A Sucky 2022 in the Rearview Mirror

This is the kind of place where your glass will never be anything other than half full because we choose to focus on the positive side of life.

Now, this doesn't mean that we shy away from the real talk.

No, not a chance.

Matter of fact, we explore all aspects of life.

From the good, the bad, and the ugly.

But all of that is done with one purpose.

One purpose to inspire you to never give up on life.

Even when it may seem like life has given up on you.

Now I get it, life is hard.

But starting today, you've got grit, grace, and inspiration.

What's going on, and welcome back to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

I am your host, Kevin Lowe, and well, welcome back to the show.

Today is episode 142.

And if listening to this at the time of its release, you will know that we are dead set headed towards Christmas and the end of 2022.

The stress is on the crunch is in place because we got a lot to do, a lot happening in life, and at times we're kind of wondering how is it all gonna get done?

With that in mind, today's episode is a quick hit win for you.

What does that mean?

That means you don't gotta listen to me for long, and yet you can still come away with a takeaway that I hope will help you finish out 2022.

So, from the title of today's episode, you get where I'm going with it.

So, yeah, this year sucked.

Unfortunately, more times than not, the year never seems to go the way that we thought it would go, the way that we hoped it would go.

And to be honest, you you could go many different directions with this, but if you want my personal opinion, it's called life.

Life is crazy, messy, and it's never quite like the movies to pick.

Because, well, it's life.

And this year for myself, I know it was a crazy, messed up, kind of insane year.

Health problems, family problems, time spent in the hospital that is just horrible because nobody wants to spend time in the hospital, whether you're the patient or the one there with a loved one.

And I'm sure you can understand what I'm talking about.

Because chances are, if this year didn't suck, you probably didn't even press play on this episode because you were like, ooh, what's he talking about?

I'm feeling good about this year.

Well, for you, awesome.

But for my fellow people who are like, whoo, baby, I'm ready to see 2022 in the rear view.

Well, today's episode is all about you.

Now, here's the point of this topic is that I want you to realize that we're about to be given a gift.

You are about to be given a gift, and that is a start over, a redo, a chance at a new beginning.

Because that is the glorious thing about January 1st.

Because January 1st is our chance to start over, to take a re-look at life, to look back at what went right and wrong through the past year and figure out how to make the next year better.

Or maybe if things went good, to keep it the same.

And that's what I love about January 1st is it's a renewed sense of hope.

Because I want to tell you this is that even when life is hard, even if this year sucked for you, you can still have hope that next year will be better.

And matter of fact, that's what I want to encourage you to do, is I want you to go into January 1st with a renewed sense of hope, a fresh outlook on life.

Because the truth is, is that tomorrow is not today.

Today is not yesterday.

Every day we wake up and the sun has risen, we've just been given the opportunity at a fresh start.

And January 1st is a big moment for that to happen.

Now, if this year didn't go as planned, then it's easy to get caught up in the negativity and realize, oh man, why do I think next year is going to be any better?

I thought this was going to be my year.

So why would I even get hopeful that next year will be?

Well, I can tell you this much that's a hole that you don't want to go down.

Because you dig yourself into that type of mindset, then you stand a chance of never coming out.

So I want to encourage you to get excited about the new year.

Start making some plans for things that you want to do in 2023.

Get excited about what could happen.

Now we know.

Once we dive into 2023, who knows?

The game is on, life may get crazy and messed up again, but that's okay because we can hope that it doesn't.

We can learn from what happened this year and prepare ourselves for next.

And maybe we can avoid some of the pitfalls that we fell into this year.

Maybe we stand a chance at making 2023 better.

Or what I like to think, maybe 2023 is gonna be the best year of my life.

Think about that for a second.

Think if next year is the best year of your entire life.

Wow, what would that look like?

What's going to happen in 2023 for you to be like, oh MG, that year was insane.

Give me some more of that.

What does that mean?

Because I'm here to tell you, whatever that looks like, then that's what you need to be aiming for.

And I just want you to not give up hope on life, to keep fighting, to keep doing the things you gotta do, and get excited about the year to come.

Now, all you have to do is survive the holiday season, and you will be on your way to a better year.

That was it for today's episode.

Just a little boost of encouragement, reminding you that even if 2022 sucked, that doesn't mean that next year has to also.

Next year may be the best year of your life.

So let's get ready for it.

Let's get excited about it, and let's keep charging forward.

Until next week, this is Kevin Lowe with grit, grace, and inspiration.

Have an amazing day.