“We will open the book. Its pages are blank.
We are going to put words on them ourselves.
The book is called Opportunity
and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
— Edith Lovejoy Pierce
There is a lot of hype around the holidays and the New Year passage.
We have created many expectations of giving, receiving, and being of good cheer. I experience the pressure of turning the page into a “new year” and setting resolutions that will set my life straight. As if this magical calendar date gives us all a pass on missing the mark in the previous year.
I join in with all the rituals. I like giving and receiving and being of good cheer. However, I don’t need the month of December or the calendar page to prompt me to act like this — instead, it is a yearlong commitment.
I find the winter months and gray days of Cleveland challenging. As a single person who feels like a satellite to my family system, I spend more time alone during this “festive” time than in groups of people. It slows me down, blurs my focus, and causes me to go within to ruminate. Mostly, this is good — until I need to pick up the pace because the world is returning to work.
Winter and the holiday season are a time of both finding the light and delving into the darkness. I know both well.
When it is so quiet, my world can shrink. I keep up with the world news as it provides me with perspective. I have so much to be grateful for — and yet so much to do to shoulder my responsibilities. And I see so much that the world is experiencing that is harder than my life.
I tried to take one day and just do next to nothing. The dogs were quite confused. And it doesn’t suit me well.
I like moving through my world with purpose.
This close of one year and the beginning of another causes me to revisit my purpose, how I will spend my time, and with whom.
- Am I the only one who circles these questions?
- Do you experience the paradox of lightness and darkness in your life, your work, or when considering the future?
I make lists to review my commitments. I consider all options softly, without an immediate reaction. I have only the dogs to discuss my thoughts openly. They are good listeners and very unconditional in their support for my figuring things out.
I am moving today, on the first day of the new year, to prepare the traditional meal of pork, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, and black-eyed peas. I will share it with my 93-year-old neighbor. We will raise a glass to each other and to what is yet to come. Then I will jump into the new year with both feet.
I am better when the schedule is full, and I need to make the most of the time. Give me too much time, and I tend to mentally go down too many rabbit holes.
For many of my friends, the busyness of the holidays and family commitments will end, and they are ready to pick up the working routine. For me, it is the quiet and solitude that I am ready to let go of to move into a different cadence.
- Do these holidays and the New Year energize or exhaust you?
- How do you prepare for the winter months?
What we can count on is that the future will be filled with opportunities and change, challenges and rewards, and highs and lows. That doesn’t worry me or cause me distress. I am getting more able to ride the waves and currents of life. I just like to check in with others to see how everyone is doing in finding their path.
I accept that life is a collage of pain, grief, and pleasure. It is a recipe that each of us creates and experiences. I want to live it all fully and experience it openly.
- Will you join me? Will you share your weighty thoughts and celebratory moments?
Mixed into this gumbo-world-of-living will be self-discovery, friendships renewed, lessons learned and relearned, and the chance to be who we choose to be every day.
This is how my early morning in the darkness of winter started in 2024.
May we bump into each other and share our experiences!
Leslie
“The first step towards getting somewhere
is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.”
— J.P. Morgan
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