We are here
is here, and January is already at the halfway mark.
Some of us have yet to put away the tree and lights and are already dreading a year we feel ill-prepared for. With a new year comes the onslaught of contemplations, recommendations, fresh starts, blessing jars, journal entries, and vision boards — it can be a reflection overload. (Let’s not even mention gym memberships.)
We consider the year barely behind us, already comparing it to one we have yet to face. We make reasonable assertions, and we set the goals that make us feel like good, responsible humans. These are all good things. But even good things can yield fruitless results.
As we begin a new cycle around the sun, let’s consider what has already been accomplished instead of becoming overwhelmed with lists of intentions (albeit good ones).
If your eyes fall here, you’ve done the most important part — you have lasted another day, week, hour, moment. Do not discount what an incredible achievement THAT is.
It is no small haul, especially considering the world we live in today. Bravo. Pat yourself on the back.
365 days have passed. And you lived each and every one of them. You survived — Check.
So we are here, and we are moving forward. Life is a series of forward movements made without the certainty of outcomes. We can be both brave and afraid. Yet instinct tells us we must move forward, afraid or otherwise. Risk, trial and error, loss and gain — all part of the alphabet soup of life.
We are words, spoken and unspoken. We can be both resolved and unresolved.
And yes, we make frail attempts, fall back into habitual strides, and strive to meet noteworthy benchmarks. But, this year, I’d like to know who I am without the granted permissions and regular expectations. I’d like to do the unexpected and feel OK about making mistakes. If we face things together we find they are not so different, they simply have different faces. We punish ourselves for daydreams and disillusions, yet all of us entertain these as a way to be comforted at times.
Our addictions scare us. Our dark thoughts scare us. Our means to an end scare us.
If we didn’t fear ourselves, we wouldn’t fear each other. If we didn’t judge ourselves so harshly, it would be easier to bear one another’s burdens. Maybe the only way to successfully begin is to realize that you are already enough. We ARE still here, after all.
As for me, I’d like to stay a bit longer in the verse of my favorite Christmas song that says “where strivings cease.”
Each of us has a part in making this journey, this year, this hour, a good one. Beautiful even. Threads. Part of one great tapestry. And that’s an amazing thing. If we let it be.
It takes knowing ourselves in order to know one another.
“Each of us has that right, that possibility, to invent ourselves daily. If a person does not invent herself, she will be invented. So, to be bodacious enough to invent ourselves is wise.” -Maya Angelou