January

Photo by Candice Seplow on Unsplash

Happy New Year and Congrats!

Art by Emily McDowell via Lessons from the Universe

If you’re reading this, you fought through a global pandemic, political unrest and Lord knows what else, to survive the doozie that was 2020, and that’s something to celebrate.

As someone who struggles with the fear of failure, it’s my tendency to set goals a little on the low side thus setting myself up for success. So when it comes to new year’s resolutions, I like to go broad vs big or too specific.

One of the silver linings of 2020 was the rediscovery of two past times I’ve long loved and that bring me peace - writing and nature. So this year I’m resolving to get outside more and write more - likely at the same time, because these days mama’s gotta multitask.

The spirit of the word resolution is ultimately to improve by committing to start or stop something. I often think and write about the tension between self acceptance and self improvement, and as with most topics on which I noodle, I think the magic is found somewhere in the middle. Maybe there is a way to be at peace with who we were and are while growing into who we will be. I think the trick is to own and build upon our past rather than hide it because then we give purpose to the heartbreak. They’re life lessons learned the hard way.

So cheers to us - not the old us or the new us but the now us, doing our best to be our best. May we find peace in the year ahead, starting with the present, and keep on fighting.