2020!! Wow – is it because I’m getting old or has this past year just flown by? Whenever I say 2020, I think of perfect eyesight – good, clear, 20/20 vision with no blurriness or fuzzy edges. Natural 20/20 vision would be amazing, but wouldn’t it be even more amazing to have 20/20 vision in life? Wouldn’t it be great to have that kind of clarity in our lives?
20/20 Vision in Life Would be Amazing
Often, when living with a chronic health condition, people lose clarity. Everything becomes a blur with lots of fuzzy edges because the only thing we can focus on is the illness itself.
Our health takes over. We forget to notice what’s around us. Very often, we lose a part of ourselves as we become drowned out by that pain or chronic illness.
When our eyesight is bad and we don’t have the clarity of 20/20 vision, we make a trip to the optician to get new glasses or contacts. If only there was an easy way to get the same clarity in our lives.
20 Ways to get 20/20 Vision in Our Lives
When we are being weighed down by a health condition, it seems almost impossible to find clarity. How can we possibly get 20/20 vision in our lives when we can’t see past the pain or the illness?
Here are twenty ideas which might help you to find 20/20 vision and regain some clarity in your life. Many of my ideas could be made easier by using mindfulness. A chronic illness blogging friend wrote a very easy to understand article about mindfulness here. Please take a look.
1. Love Yourself
Everyone has flaws and imperfections, but learn to accept them and love yourself. This isn’t being conceited – it’s self-compassion.
2. Be Proud of Yourself
Be proud of who you are. You might have been dealt a bad hand in life, but you cope with it. You try. You make an effort. You get through tough days, don’t you? Therefore be proud of yourself.
3. Sleep Well, Eat Well and Drink More Water
We all know it’s good for us, don’t we? But do we put it into practice?
Quality sleep is important for everyone, but it’s often hard to find. There are some ideas here which might help. A varied diet rich in nutrients plays a vital role in maintaining our health. Staying well-hydrated doesn’t just quench our thirst, it can also help with pain and other health issues.
4. Focus on the Present, Not the Past
It’s too easy to look back at an ‘old life’ wistfully wishing you could go back to it. But you can’t. Nobody can. Not even healthy people. Most healthy sixty years olds probably yearn to be in their thirties. They can’t do that either.
Try to enjoy the memories, but focus on the present.
5. Acknowledge, Change, Accept
By acknowledging the negatives in your life, you might discover that you can change some of them. What can’t be changed needs to be accepted. Then you can move forward.
6. Ask for Help
We all want to be independent, don’t we? But the sad fact is that we sometimes need help. Ask for it when you need it.
7. Day by Day, Minute by Minute
A chronic health condition gets in the way of life. Take one day at a time and even, when needed, a minute at a time. There’s no rush.
8. Find a Purpose
Pain can take away your sense of purpose. Finding another one can change your life. You might not be able to get out to work or even look after your family yourself, but you can still have a sense of purpose. You could be a listener. You could be the one who everyone comes to with their problems. That’s a vital role because everyone needs to have someone they can talk to. Even chatting to someone in an online support group can give you fulfilment because you could be making a difference to someone’s life just by being there for them. Taking a few minutes to chat could be invaluable to someone.
9. Plans – Make Them, but be Prepared to Change Them if Necessary
Life with chronic illness can be unpredictable and disrupt plans, can’t it? We shouldn’t stop making plans because of it but we do need to accept that plans might need to be cancelled or changed.
10. Pace Yourself
Listen to your body and learn to go at a pace that suits you. Do what you can, when you can. Break downs tasks so you’re able to complete them over a longer period. The end result is what’s important.
11. Set Goals, but Make Them Achievable
Goals are great, but if we make them unachievable, what happens? We don’t reach them, then we become down because we feel like failures.
Set the goal for slightly less than you think you can achieve so you know you’ll meet it. If you manage to surpass it, you’ll feel extra good about yourself.
Remember – life changes, so goals can change too.
(For more help of setting goals, click this link to a post by a chronic illness blogging friend)
12. Believe in yourself
If you live with a health condition, you may have limitations, but that doesn’t mean it should define you. Learn your limitations, focus on what you can do and believe in your own abilities. Believe in yourself.
13. Celebrate Small Achievements
Living with chronic illness might mean you’re not capable of huge tasks, therefore, you should celebrate and be proud of achievements no matter how big or small.
14. Look for Positives
A positive attitude won’t cure your health problems, but it can help you to cope with it.
Sometimes you need to search for positives because they don’t always jump out at you. The more you search, the more you’ll find. Start by concentrating on what you can do rather than what you can’t do and focusing on what you have, instead of what you don’t have.
15. Gratitude
Keep a gratitude journal. At the end of every day, write about something or someone you’re grateful for. Read it when you wake up in the morning to get the day off to a good start.
16. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
They don’t walk in your shoes, nor do you walk in theirs. Comparisons can be damaging because they can make you judge yourself and believe that you’re not good enough, smart enough or strong enough.
You are an individual and you are enough.
17. Ditch the Guilt
You have more than enough to focus on without being dragged down by guilt, therefore set yourself free from it.
18. Reduce Stress
Stress can have a huge impact on health conditions. Therefore we need to learn how to lessen, control and cope with it. Belly breathing can help. Read this post about stress to find out more.
19. Enjoy Small Things in Life
The small things in life matter. In actual fact, the small things are often very the big things.
Take time to enjoy that first cup of coffee in the morning and look around you. Watch as clouds swirl in the sky. Listen to birds singing. Smell the roses. Hug your pets. Take up simple hobbies which might help to distract you from your pain.
20. Do what’s Right for You
You are the most important person in your life, therefore:
- Give yourself permission to focus on yourself.
- Give yourself permission to stop and rest when you need to.
- Give yourself permission to say “no” because you are not obliged to say yes to everything.
- Give yourself permission to do what’s right for you.
You Can Do This
I hope that 2020 will be kind to you. I’d like to clink glasses with each one of you to wish you a happy new year. Let’s make the year 2020 the year we look forward with clarity. Let’s work through this year together and find that 20/20 vision.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that feels like this year has zipped by as I feel like I’m losing my marbles a bit. I wonder if it’s just keeping busy and distracted and not being ‘in the moment’ that does it? I don’t remember time going this quickly before! Anyway, love the theme for this post! 20/20 vision, how great would that be!
Great tips and all very valuable ways to approach the new year. I think no.8 is one I still get a little stuck on. That purpose is rather elusive for me, but you’re right, it can even be things like being a good listener, a good friend (online and offline, because the online realm certainly counts). Celebrating those small achievements is one I’d like to do more of, too. As for the one about doing what’s right for you, that’s something that’s been at the forefront of my mind since Christmas, namely having had the worst Christmas of my life thus far. It’s not always easy to do what’s right for you, especially if you’re always trying to make others happy or are worried about rocking the boat, but at some point you need to make that tough choice because it’ll be better in the long run. It’s also a way of practising that all-important self-care by prioritising your needs and believing in yourself.
Brilliant post, Liz. Very good way to provoke a little thinking in advance of the New Year kicking in.
I hope you’re keeping as well as possible and of course I wish you the very, very best for a brighter 2020 ♥
Caz xxxx
In my case, I’m sure it’s to do with getting old because I haven’t been keeping busy lol.
I’m so sorry that Christmas wasn’t good for you. I hope life picks up and gets better soon. It’s not always easy to do what right for ourselves. I still get it wrong and I’ve had plenty of practice.
Take care of yourself, Caz.
I really liked this post. Especially because you keep the focus on the everyday things we need to keep doing instead of grand goals. My new year anxiety went down just reading this. Thank you!
Hi Kathy, thank you. I’m glad this post reduced your anxiety about the new year. Sometimes I think so much focus is put on resolutions and big achievements, which are seldom attainable even for healthy people.
I love everything about this! I hope I can go into 2020 with better vision. (Scratch that, I WILL go into it.) 2019 was a super hard year for me so ??
Excellent list! Purpose helps me a lot.
Thank you!
In the first weeks of 2019 I got hit with a health issue that gave me quite a scare. I’m so grateful it wasn’t anything to serious but it did involve undergoing lots of tests and a therapy that really took a toll out of me. It was a difficult year, but I made it! I’m so ready to get back on track – to get my 20/20 vision! You’ve made some great suggestions, things we can realistically do and incorporate into our daily life! I really want to focus on gratitude this year!
I love this post sooooooo much and it was exactly what I needed to read this morning!! It is so important to find 20/20 vision in life and the New Year is a great time to start figuring out how to do that. I especially liked your point on setting achievable goals. I think we so often set goals that are so lofty that when we don’t achieve them in a day we get frustrated and want to throw them out with the trash. You are very wise, thank you for this post and helping me see perspective in this new year!!
The older I get the faster time seems to be going. At 51 years old I realize I’m on my “second half” and try to make the best of each day. This is such a great reminder at the start of the year and just what I needed to read today. Something I just wrote about and am feverishly working on myself is comparing myself to others. I always feel like I should be further than I am at this point. When I take a steo back and realize everything I have I realize I should be grateful. Most times we don’t know whats happening behind closed doors of those that appear more successful than us.
You have touched on every aspect that could make us feel worthwhile everyday and be happy. It’s our vision which really matters. Such a refreshing take on life Elizabeth. Wish you a wonderful 2020 and may God bless you.
Thank you so much. Your post really touched me. I wrote down all the goals in my journal. If I even fulfil few of them, I am sure it will bring a big change. I am trying slowly to go of the guilt, accept changes and move forward.
brilliant post on life, self care and focusing on what is important. As we get older we need to connect with what is important and focus on our own legacy. I really like all the points here to preserve our own happiness and sanity. Thank you very much
Jerry godinho
I guess if you get point no. 1 right “love yourself” that everything else just falls in place. great article, thanks.
Definitely love drink more water (PLEASE) and Ask for help (it’s HUGE, I’m not great at delegating). Also love all the self-care, can’t get enough of that! Lovely post!!
I like the term: 20/20 vision. This is the list we all need to get going with the year and making it great
You’ve got some great suggestions here! One that we’re trying to incorporate in our household this year is to stop and celebrate our smaller achievements. I’ve always been one to just power forward saying I’ll celebrate when i get ‘there’ but somewhere along the way I lost sight of where ‘there’ was and my life became this constant struggle to move forward blindly with no exciting destination in sight. Thank you for the reminder!
Lots of greats tips that we all need to remember throughout the year to help us cope with our pain and/or illness. It’s so easy to forget these things when we’re caught up in the frustrations of daily life. Number 14 is hard but is something I really believe in. Great post Liz 🙂 xx
I feel like you were writing this for me, because it was exactly what I needed to read and remind myself to keep going. Yet while still going, stop and appreciate how far I have come. And yes, this last year just zipped by. Seems like every year goes along normally until the end of summer. Like once September comes, time just speeds up and goes into overdrive. I have no clue why, but it seems to happen every year.
This is such a great post and I love all the points you’ve mentioned. Getting clarity in our lives and focusing on the things that are important is essential for being healthy, happy and fulfilled.
What a wonderful post! Everyone needs to practice some self-care everyday to find clarity in life! Loved every single suggestion you made on how to achieve our 20/20 vision for life. Thank you so much for sharing! I’ll put this into practice even more this year.
This was a great list filled with a lot of great points! Getting rid of guilt, focus on the present and the one about changing things that you can and accepting things that you can’t are some of the ones that stand out. Oh yeah, and don’t compare yourself to others. That’s a bit one. It looks like it would be a great list to print out and place on the wall.
This is a great way to kickstart the year and many of these are applicable to your entire life. I’ll definitely keep these in mind for 2020.