2022 feels like an endurance run.
It is more of the same happening over the past two years.
It is more of the same past decades; ramped up to extreme degrees that tear through our forests, oceans and hearts in such a way that dystopian novel plots are beginning to sound less like fantasy and more like reality.
The stories begin and the stories end.
The seasons cycle through and this new year creeps in with a whisper. A book’s prologue, almost forgotten, except for a nudge to look up and see the digits marking midnight.
We cheer and we make lists of resolutions. We chant and we shout and we drink to our fortunes.
Do we sit in the quiet of midnight and count how many midnights we’ve lived?
In the days of early Rome, January 1st was dedicated to Janus, the god of gateways and beginnings rather than the “new year.”
Instead, the new year was marked on December 25th, March 1st and even March 25th up until the eighteenth century when the new year shifted to what it is today.
What we mark as our beginning is always changing.
What we mark as our end shifts with the beginnings.
And so, among all the ceremony, ritual and resolute declarations of change and triumph, I call in presence.
2022 is an endurance run.
The state of our world will not change overnight, but what can change is how we view, and how we live, each moment.
If there is one lesson I can take from the rocky road that was 2021, it is the utmost importance of living in the present moment.
In the last days of 2021 I thought a lot about change, about habits, and about living in the present moment.
My character is not suited to regimental structure, and enforcing anything out of “obligation.”
That mindset has led me to burnout, one too many times.
My character is suited to wandering and following the paths of joy.
But that mindset has led to frustration and exasperation, as I feel behind everyone around me.
But in the last days of 2021, this came to me:
Permanence grows from presence. Presence rises out of permanence.
In short, habits come from being present with your needs in each and every moment, and for however long you need them, you will do them.
You will read every morning in the spring, but then by summer perhaps you’ll be meditating every morning instead.
Morning will always come, but what we do with that time is what we can control – and like the timing of new year’s celebrations – what we do with that time will change with every year.
But looking back, over a series of years you can begin to see patterns, or things that mark your character.
Mine straddles the worlds of wanderer and worker.
What marks your character?
That is your permanence.
That is your anchor, your heart, that will continue to beat as you move through this coming year and all the same cycles, and the twists and the turns that mark this beginning.
Remember that each beginning has an end, so instead of worrying about making a moment special with just the right ceremony, the right company, or a flashy achievement – make it special by noticing the small things.
Another sigh as you check the slowly turning clock, the blinking cursor as you contemplate what to write, the adrenaline when you get caught in a disagreement and the exasperation when you realize the pattern you fell into after.
But also the colour of the sky, the taste of water, or coffee. The warmth of a shower, the cold nose of a pet asking for attention. A show that always makes you laugh.
A movie that reminds you the shadows always pass and a new day will always come.
The stories begin and the stories end.
Instead of forecasting 2022 as the year you will do, or be, x, y and z; step out of your door and let your feet dance you onto the road.
Be present with every pothole and dandelion pushing through a crack.
Learn who you are right now.
Choose who you want to be right now.
Begin to catch yourself before you trip into a pothole or you step on the dandelion.
2022 may be an endurance run as things started in years past, still continue on, but that doesn’t mean you need to focus on a finish line.
Celebrate where you are, right here and now with just a smile and a pat on the back.
You’ve made it to 2022.
What comes next, that’s up to you.
You get to write the way your character walks or runs the path you’re on. You might even choose to let your character snooze on the side of the road.
Life isn’t a race. It’s a road that goes ever-on, with many beginnings and endings.
While we cannot control the weather, or whatever is happening to the world at large, we can control our feelings.
So instead of sitting with another weight-loss or award-winning resolution – sit with the emotion you want to be.
And if you stray off the path and feel fear, worry, or grief – guess what? You’re alive. You’re a character in your own story rather than just a piece on someone else’s chess board.
So celebrate feeling all the feelings and being present to mark each one.
What comes next? That’s the mystery and adventure that will transform you into a story someone will one day tell.
Happy New Year!
May the wind be always at your back,
ARR
