It may be the algorithm, or it is fortuitous. But I cannot help but notice how many people could not wait for 2022 to end. So many people seemed to have had a year they would rather forget.
It is true that, validly, it was a year for many who indeed found it especially trying. A year of losses, tragedy and also another year of triumphs. Another trip around the sun, with all the bitter and sweet that comes with it. I am not trying to invalidate the experiences of this year; not at all. We forget quickly, and maybe nature intended it that way. Or perhaps we never really forget we just shift focus, and it builds up…
Each year allows us to write a new story, but we find it hard to resist reusing old pages. Almost as if we wrote in pencil and erased it to write over it again. This is a problem if we push hard enough and imprint deep onto the pages as we write them. The truth is that what was there before is always lingering. That may be why the annus horribilis eventually becomes our reality.
Either way, if nothing else, this last year reminded me of the importance of struggling through it all, but in the end, not to end up with an annus horribilis, but a clean slate. To thoroughly debrief, digest, learn, fill the memory, forgive and forget.
I have shared before my love for bonsais. Sitting and observing helped me to have silence, the kind you need to notice how much we can learn from trees. They cannot control anything happening around them (they cannot even run away). Yet, they grow towards the stars even though gravity and what is happening around them try to pull them down. Although they cannot control anything around them, they know that dreams are where the clouds are, so they never stop reaching for them.
I stumbled on this on 31 December and it had a profound impact on me.
“The Universe is not in a hurry.
You are.
That is why you are constantly stressed, anxious and disappointed.
Trust that was is meant to be yours will be yours.”
This time, I ended the year softly and this new year, I will not be in a hurry. Instead, I shall follow Rumi’s advice: “Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames”, and will enjoy the journey, my book, with those who fan my flames.
May 2023 be our “present” and may we be present for every moment of it! Let’s enjoy the adventure in every test!
