We did an episode #40 last year for New Year’s aptly called Takeaways and Looks Ahead. It featured 5 women. This year we are asking 3 men: Mark from Keep Your Dreams Alive, episode 50. Ben from You are not Alone, episode 57. Pat: from Be a Barnabus Today, episode 51.


Their task? To answer these two questions: 1. What is your takeaway from 2021? 2. What do you see for 2022?

The highlights: visualizing what comes next and taking steps to do it. To pan out and see the bigger picture because you have no idea how all the times, both good and hard, will lead you to the next thing. And no matter what, choose joy. You’ve got to go through it all so you might as well look at the positive. Happy New Year everybody.

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TRANSCRIPT (not edited for errors)

Participant #1:

Welcome to Unabashed you conversations to become who you already are. The focus at UI is to be who you are without apology, for you are one of a kind, without equal. Be encouraged as these conversations will help you think, celebrate who you are, and move you in some way your companion to the whimsy and beauty of the human spirit. Rochelle Kindy Now we did an episode number 40 last year for New Year's aptly called Takeaways and Looks Ahead. It featured five women. This year we are asking three men. Mark from Keep Your Dreams Alive, episode 50, Ben from You Are Not Alone, episode 57, and Pat Be a Barnabas Today, episode 51. Their task to answer these two questions. One, what is your takeaway from 2021 and what do you see for 2022?

Participant #1:

I've had the pleasure of knowing Mark for more years than I can recount. He is fun, funny, and deep, a dear friend. All right, Mark, what is your takeaway from 2021? Oh, God, let me catch my breath. We caught more on a hike. On a beach hike. It's been quite a year. And looking back, the obvious thing is just that having gone through this pandemic, but then how that sort of impacted our lives. Right. And how did we navigate through being faced with that adversity? Right. So the thing for me was very similar to what our interview was like last year, which is finding those dreams and those passions that you have and really doing what you love. I think when we're faced with adversity, you can either go that direction and try to get more in tune with those things because it kind of can push you that way or it can sink you. So, yeah, I managed to sort of find these little seeds of those things that I really, truly loved during this last year. Oh, that's wonderful. So it sounds like persevering and like in the fork in the road, you're going to keep going even more so to the side of your dreams and the things that propel you and compel you. Absolutely. And I think it's interesting because there's been times in my life different challenges that we face. And I just always feel like I tend to try for some reason, I want to at those times, try to focus on those things to get me through just those passions that we have. Right. And to me, they are what is life affirming and that can kind of really propel us forward. Right. I like that. Yeah. And I know, you know, for me, it was getting in touch more with my music and my singing again. And that totally just stands out to me that I was able to somehow start making music again and start feeling like I was getting more creative with that again. Right. Wonderful, wonderful. And what do you see for 2022 as you look into the New year? What do you see? Well, to me, it's building on those seeds that were planted. It feels like even though we're being faced with yet again, another wave of this variant and all of this that I want to take what I sort of started with in 2021 and just keep building on that. So for me, that's that I'm going to be doing taking my music.

Participant #1:

Okay. He slowed down there for a second. Let's see if we can get him back to I'm going to be in cabaret concert. All right. Very exciting. Yes. Okay. So Mark was just sharing with us that he's going to do a cabaret concert coming up in 2022 based on the passion and the dreams that he's had. That really kind of crescendo it, I would say, in 2021. Correct. Oh, he's off the Hill now. Okay, there we go. You're back, you're back. Okay. So what it is. Yeah. I'm excited about 2022 because I can sort of visualize what that's going to turn into keeping the music going. Wonderful.

Participant #1:

Thank you for sharing that, Mark. I really appreciate it. As a friend, I certainly want to definitely support and see your dreams come alive. So thank you for that. All right. Thanks, Mark. Happy New Year. Ben is someone I worked with in children's theater. He's creative driven and loyal. I think he is terrific. All right, Ben, what is your takeaway from 20 21? 20 21 was definitely, like, challenging, I think, for a lot of people in a lot of ways. But I think the biggest takeaway is that just being faithful to God and just kind of just like staying true to yourself and all that through the hardest parts, everything just will work out. I think that's something that definitely took way to see because there is definitely some bumpiness there's some hard decisions, hard choices, but at the end of the day, just staying true to doing what you got to do. And it all worked out in the end, it was all gone. Yeah. Because it was definitely like some bumps this year. But like I said, it all panned out really well to the end. And sometimes we don't see the bigger picture until everything's been here like, oh, wow, thank God all that happened. You know what I mean? That is so true. That is so true. You just don't know what's going to build on even the hard times. Yeah, exactly. I like that word faithful. I like that you said it twice. So to me, that was almost a theme for you for 2021 was that one of your takeaways is being faithful to the direction that you feel you're being let in, and also even in the bumps and all of that, to remain faithful. Yeah. It's not easy. I value that a lot in people, too.

Participant #1:

Yeah. Well, that brings us to our second question, which is what do you see for 2022?

Participant #1:

If you would ask me January last year, about 22, it would be New Year now. I'm like, just really excited.

Participant #1:

Not so much in my career. Things have been good, but just love I was pointing to sounds like God definitely opened up some big doors there. Exciting. Like, wow, my mind is painful for this upcoming year. And I'm really excited. And I'm not normally it's funny because, like, coming into the New Year, I'm not into change. I think change is something that could be really hard. But this year, I'm actually really excited. Change is a good thing. I know something that's hard. It's uncomfortable. We don't like it a lot of times, but the benefits that come with change as part of growth. So I'm pretty excited for this year, what's going to be happening that is so profound then seriously, I mean, to recognize yeah, you're right. A lot of us don't like change because it's new and it's unexpected and what's going to happen and all of that. But you are understanding that change. It's one of the things we can count on. Right? I mean, moving forward. And so you are excited for this New Year. You see a lot of positive, good changes for your life. And I see in your smile and the sparkle in your eye when you talk about 2022 that there are some good things for you on the horizon. Yeah. And normally I'm not like I said, normally it's funny because January is my least favorite time of the year. I always feel like, yes, I got through a whole year. Now I got to start everything over. Like I said, change is not a comfortable thing. But I think over the years, I just have learned a lot in the sense of, like, just trust again, if you just say true to yourself, your convictions to God faithfulness, like I said, it really does work some stuff out, even though you don't always see the big picture. Right. I like that. I like that a lot. Well, thank you, Ben. I appreciate you taking the time to share your takeaways and looks ahead. Thank you, Ben. Thank you. Thank you. Awesome Christmas and stuff, too. I did hope you did, too. All right. Thanks, Ben. Another person I've known for years, Pat, peacekeeper, encourager family, man. I value his thoughts. All right, Pat, what is your takeaway from 2021? Wow. Well, first of all, who would have ever thought last year about this time? Everybody was talking about, oh, so glad 2020 is over. I can't wait till 2020. Bring on 2021. We need a breath of fresh air, and it's like what ends up happening? Who would have ever thought there was going to be a sequel? Yeah, and the sequel was going to be named 2021, and it was going to be bigger and badder than the original. Oh, my gosh. It's kind of interesting because backtracking to 2020, for me, 2020 was confusing. The buzzword would have been confusing because everything was new. You were suddenly thrust into this darkness of confusion, mixed signals. Suddenly you didn't know what was going to happen next. You were hunkering down and businesses were closing and things of that nature. So to me it was very confusing. And then it was interesting because a friend of mine kind of coined a word for 2021 is actually our pastor said 2020. We complicated. And I went, yeah, that's so true because I think what we actually saw is kind of the byproduct or maybe the collateral damage of 2020. Everything just got very confusing. For me, it's really confusing. You don't know what's going to happen next. Everything became more like travel was more difficult. Relationships got much more difficult. The continuation of battle lines being drawn politically, everything is more confusing and more complicated, more difficult. And it just kind of got really sad. And it's just really interesting me Where's the supply side of economics, I mean, getting product, whoever thought you go to a Walmart and couldn't find green beans, for crying out loud? And things just got more difficult. Relationships got more difficult. Again, the idea of battle lines being drawn, even worse, confusing and difficult and complicated. Like Kovan 19, it's got like the sinister name to it. And so it strikes fear into people. And I think people were dealing with fear and confusion, not knowing what to do next. So for me, if I was going to say a takeaway choosing Joy because you see a lot of anger, a lot of frustration, a lot of shortness with people. Another thing that got complicated was I have a seven year old granddaughter that I take to and from school. Even going to school got very complicated masks. We're going to mask up in the classroom where we're 6ft apart, but you at lunch where you're sitting right next to your best friend or your buddy. You don't need a mask. Even the kids are confused. And to me, that's kind of really sad because I was thinking about this this morning when we were kids, when you and I were kids, life wasn't complicated. It was simple. Not like this, right? No. And they're dealing with so much these days. So as I mentioned, kind of choosing Joy I need for me, how do you make that pivot? Because that's a huge pivot from confusion and complication to Joy. How do you stop yourself in your tracks and do that? For me personally, I just have to make that conscious because I'm not good at it. I get bogged down and I get short. And it's funny because not funny. It's sad in a way that you get short with the people you care about the most. I get very sure. It's almost like you have to catch yourself going down that path. And you got to say, you know what? I need to choose to be Joyful today and stop and think about there is so much out there to be Joyful for you really can fight Joy and the difficulties, and that's kind of one of the little things I think about is my life is difficult, but on a daily basis it's filled with blessings. Having both my grandkids living with me is difficult. It's complicated, but at the same time, all I have to do is look at that face or sit down, play Scrabble last night with my seven year old. Talk about complicated. Play it with a seven year old. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Like regular Scrabble or is there a junior? Yeah, regular Scrabble. I have not got the vocabulary for Scrabble, that's for sure. Anyway, that's for me. That's what I need to do, and I'm not good at it. And I've got to do it every single day for me. Again, starting each day with prayer, I have a prayer. Hopefully I can remember this, but a prayer that I use every morning is, Lord, thank you for another precious day of life. Help me to be aware of your presence around me and help me to be thankful for all that I have. Ooh. It's very simple, and yet it's very profound. Well, if I can remember it, it has to be simple, right? Well, that's good. Okay, so you're choosing Joy. Despite all the complications and confusion, how do you see then, 2022, as we cross the bridge over into a new year? Well, I wish I could say I tried to be a very optimistic person. I wish I could say that there was a lot of optimism. I have a lot of hope, but optimistically, I see a lot of the same things happening in say that I think there's going to be a lot of the same complications, at least initially. Again, what I do for a living, I'm seeing a lot of difficulties. I don't see things freeing up as far as products and goods and things of that nature. So I still see a lot of difficulty there. I see inflation, by no means economists, but I think things are going to get more and more difficult as far as economics and things like that. My hope would be that people one of the other things that I find to be a little frustrated, I hope it changes in 2022 is that these battle lines that are drawn you're on this side, you're on that side, you're a conservative, you're a Liberal, you're this, you're that. The saddest part for me is that people don't seem to stop and listen and think about what the other person goes through on a regular basis. I just wish and my hope is that people will take the time to listen to one another. It's trite to put yourself in somebody else's shoes. Right. You and I have known each other for a lot of years, and we won't get into that. And I know we've been through a lot of different situations. There's no doubt we view things differently, but we have commonalities that bring us together. Right. And those things to me as we're leaving Advent, the Advent Candle, which talks about hope, enjoy and peace and love. Our commonalities and the things that we agree on bring us back to a place of love. Right. And that's why you and I, even despite the years that we weren't around one another, still had that bond and that love. And I just hope people realize that we have a lot more in common. And even though we've got midterms coming up and that's going to draw somebody's going to be happy and somebody's going to be sad. But realize that in this thing together and enjoy one another a lot more and choose more joy and find hope and peace and love. Oh, that's wonderful. And I like the idea that you brought up of listening to the other. I find a lot of times when people are talking or maybe even when I'm talking, I'm thinking of what I'm going to say next as opposed to really being in the moment of listening to the other person and trying to get rid of all of the preconceived ideas or what have you. And just really, like you say, be in somebody else's shoes for a moment. Because I think you're right. We have more in common than our differences, so we should concentrate on that. Well, thank you, Pat, for taking this time to be with us and to share your thoughts, your takeaways and looks ahead. That was really wonderful. A real blessing. Thank you so much for that. And may you have a hope filled 2022. Well, may I leave you with one thing? Yes. Jehovah Shalom. All right. The God of peace. God is my peace. Wonderful. It's another element that we all need. That's great. All right, Pat, thanks so much. You bet. Have a great one. You too. Bye.

Participant #1:

The highlights visualizing what comes next and taking steps to do it, to pan out and see the bigger picture because you have no idea how all the times, both good and hard, will lead you to the next thing. And no matter what, choose joy, you've got to go through it all. So you might as well look at the positive. Happy New Year, everybody. The Unabashed U website has a page for each guest filled with photos, quotes and a blog with embedded [email protected]. You can find the show and other podcast platforms want to lend your support and encouragement. We invite you to subscribe, follow rate, review and share on Instagram and Facebook. You can find us under Unavashured U if you want to connect. The email is [email protected] for questions, comments and anything else. If you want to be part of our weekly emailing list highlighting the week's episode, give us a shout. We'd be happy to add you and your info will never be shared, website visits, social media and word of mouth. And sharing these episodes makes us discoverable so thanks for your support there. We want these conversations to help you think. Celebrate who you are and move you in some way. Be encouraged as you continue to listen, read and be inspired. And now our blessing, a new year, fresh beginnings and sometimes more of the same. May you look to being grateful, counting your blessings and looking to what we share. Let's start right away. Amen. Come on now. In 2020 be an abashod be you.