This is a year none of us will ever forget.
A year of quarantines, face masks and relentless hand washing.
A year of fear, loss and heartbreak.
A year of improvising, adjusting and pivoting.
And yet, and yet, and yet, it is also a year of gratitude and grace.
I learned a few lessons this year when the world abruptly shut down and there was no choice but to face ourselves and our sh*t completely. Here they are:
1. Travel lightly.
It’s ironic that in this year of no travel this is the lesson I learned.
I said goodbye and thank you to things I no longer needed—material and emotional.
The material included makeup products, complicated skincare routines, piles of paperwork, the clutter and detritus of thoughtless spending.
Emotional meant parts of my business that no longer excited me or that I didn’t love and old ways of thinking especially around the ideas of money and scarcity.
Shedding the non-essential is helping me move more lightly and gracefully through life.
2. Love deeply.
It is when we have lost so much that we realize what truly matters. When we are stripped of distractions, the ability to run away and escape, that’s when we know what it means to love. This year reminded me to purposefully love, especially when the opportunities to connect are not easy.
Speaking kindly, being patient, allowing for mistakes, sending hearts on Instagram stories, asking “how are you?” on Viber, making time for regular Zoom calls—these were imperfect ways to love but I will take them anyway.
I am reminded once again by the wise words of Marianne Williamson when she said: “Something amazing happens when we surrender and just love. We melt into another world, a realm of power already within us. The world changes when we change. The world softens when we soften. The world loves us when we choose to love the world.”
3. Trust joyfully.
This was my intention at the start of the year: joyful trust. It was to know deeply in my heart that however my life unfolds is for my highest good. Who would have known how hard I had to lean into that intention this year? But I am shown every day that there is a Divine plan for my life, even if I don’t understand it and that I can trust in that plan, even if my ego is screaming “no no no!”
Trusting joyfully opens my eyes to the many ways I am always supported and loved.
4. Accept fully.
Accept the gifts that I have been given. And accept that even if this was a year I didn’t expect or even want, it is the year I was given. This meant not resisting reality but creatively and courageously finding ways to work with it and all its challenges, to show up every day, no matter how imperfectly. It is a year that’s forcing me to grow up, to take responsibility, to consider the consequences of my actions, to think of others, to give, to help, to heal.
5. Appreciate profoundly.
I’m grateful to be meeting December 2020. A lot of people will not have that opportunity. That gives me a profound sense of appreciation for the gifts of health, home, family and friends.
This Christmas season will be one of the most meaningful of my life because of all these lessons. I hope it will be the same for you. May we all be given the gifts of love, hope and faith. May we not take them for granted.
This is an excerpt from my monthly newsletter, Joyful Little Note. If you want more content like this, subscribe here.
