Welcome to Round 2, Peasants (e.g. my 2021 intro post)

As discussed in my 2020 wrapup post, 2021 is a year that is coming (very shortly), and as such, we must prepare for it with the knowledge that there is no such thing as preparation and all hope for the future is a lie.*

I’m not going to begin this post with a long intro and a bunch of ranting – instead, let’s talk about the future in the cheeriest of terms!

*I am obviously joking. Because I’m a Christian, and we’re big on hope.

Expectations for 2021

I mean, I’m definitely ending up in jail at some point.

Okay, maybe not, but I wouldn’t be surprised. I don’t want to end up in jail, but if that’s what needs to happen, I’m chill with that. (I mean, the American judicial system is a joke anyways.)

I think 2021 is going to be a hard year. There was nothing magical about 2020 that made it “bad.” In fact, 99% of the badness was the fact that no one did anything about it.

We’ll start coming to crossroads, both worldwide, in our nation, and in our day-to-day lives, and we’ll have to make hard decisions.

Christians will have to fight for what they believe in America in a way they haven’t to in decades – if they have at any point since the American Civil War/the American Revolution.

There will have to be lines drawn in the sand, and we will have to be very sure we are on the right side of those lines. It will be so subtle, so gentle that we will really have to watch.

I’m not expecting a nuclear war. I’m not expecting anything of the sort! Honestly, I wish we would have something a bit more obvious (even though war is just about the worst thing ever and should be avoided unless absolutely necessary) because … the way America is being consumed by ungodly influences is a great deal more subtle, and it’s allowing Christians to not care.

We need to care.

And, if all this doesn’t come to a head in 2021, well, it will at some point. I don’t know about you, but I’m not quite ready to just let the apocalypse happen – and even if it does, I don’t want to be one of the people who stands before God and says, “I did nothing.”

So yes, I have some dour expectations for 2021. That said, I also think there’s a lot of potential if we’re willing to not whine about it.

I’m so sick of all the cry-babies I’ve been seeing on the internet in 2020. Y’all are kinda wusses – and I admit I’ve been one, too. It’s been very popular to fuss this year.

So here’s hopin’ we choose strength, positivity, and the knowledge that our voices hold value here in America. Because they do, even if it’s been beaten out of you.

Overall 2021 Plans

• Writing
• More writing
• Writing some more

Honestly, though, it’s more complicated than that. I do have some vague-ish plans for 2021, but I have no idea what I’ll be doing by the summer, let alone the fall or winter.

I can’t see much beyond the next couple weeks. Even my work schedule is 50% up in the air right now. I don’t know what I’ll have to do to earn a living wage, which I eventually do want.

I think the main thing I need to do is stay the course. Stick to my beliefs, keep living, work on improving myself, and get lots of stuff done!

But of course, if none of that happens, the most important thing is that I develop some upward growth.

2021 Goals & Dares*

*I’m never sure if I should call them goals or dares these days because I haven’t really been doing dares, and yet … that seems more fun than goals. So we’ll call them both, even though they’re the same thing.

• Finish my synopsis, outline, and write my second project for the YWW Author program.
  • This one will be called “My Fair Marchioness,” and I’m really excited about it.
• Edit The Duke’s Twin.
  • I want to do at least one round of edits & get alpha readers!
• Launch my “pop-up” business for Author and get my first paying customer.
  • I’m most likely going to launch an author virtual assistant service. The next step is conducting some interviews, but … I’m waiting until after the Christmas holidays to do so.
• Finish At Her Fingertips and Beyond Her Calling.
  • One way or another, this has got to happen.
• Exercise, exercise, and exercise some more.
  • More specifically, I want to exercise at least twice a week, though I’m going for every day.
• Spend serious time in prayer.
  • I have an exciting new way of accomplishing this! Yay!
• Keep a careful tab on my spending.
  • I can be such a spendthrift. I mean, I do great for months and then suddenly … I’m a spendthrift.

Hopes for 2021

How are expectations different from hopes?

Well, I’m what I’d call a pessimistic realist. I stick to reality, but I don’t particularly expect reality to be happy. Because it seldom is. We live in a sin-filled world, after all.

But hope is different than expectation.

“For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.“

— Romans 8:24–25

My expectations are based on reality. On things that I see (I mean, foresight is a thing). I can’t see my hopes; I don’t know how they could happen or if they could happen. I’m afraid to believe they would happen!

So they are hopes. Dreams, if you prefer, but a bit firmer because I know (at least with my head) that there’s no way I’m going to miss out on anything I’m not meant to miss out on.

I hope …

• That I’ll find a way to move out or at least develop a new trajectory for my life that feels a bit more structured/less self-contained.
• That I’ll legitimately learn and grow as a person in Christ.
• That I’ll be able to spend more time with my friends, particularly Bailey, and that we’ll be encouraging to each other.
• That I’ll develop new friendships – or at least stability in the friendships I have.
• That Americans will begin to grow a pair and stand up for what is right.
• That people all over the world will turn to God in the fray.
• That God will extend grace to my country, even if we don’t deserve it.
• That I’ll look back at 2021 and go, “Wow, I really filled that year well!”

And that’s it for today! I’ll see you soon with … another post. I honestly don’t know what I plan on doing right, but we shall soon see!

TTFN!

~Kell~

P.S.

What are your hopes and dreams for 2021? And, of course, what are your goals? Expectations? And so on? How do you tend to view the future/planning?