Embracing the new year
The holidays were quiet for me, a gift in itself. It gave me time to reflect on the year that was ending—what did and didn’t work for me, the joys and dissatisfactions of my life right now, and what I want to let go of and what I want to let in in 2018. I also went back and read my new year’s post from last year to see how my year tracked with my intentions. Connect more deeply with myself. Yes. Continue letting go. Yes. Focus on delight and things that fill me up. Mmm … yes and no.
Don’t get me wrong, there were delights a-plenty last year—big and small. And my intuition was spot on in that following what delighted me would reveal my purpose and next adventure—life coaching. However, when I stopped chronicling my daily delights, I wasn’t as present to the little things that make my life feel abundant and I became more focused on what was lacking. In particular, I was grumbly about life in Bend as the quirks and realities of settling in a brand new place became more obvious. Also, I struggled some with identifying what, exactly, does fill me up.
New year. New word.
As is my tradition, instead of setting resolutions for the new year, I choose a word to frame my year, one that evokes both a feeling I want more of and an intention that provides focus for the year ahead. When contemplating my word for this year, it didn’t surprise me when “embrace” rose to the surface. It makes sense. After a year of continued transition and letting go, it’s time to embrace what is and what wants to be—in me and around me.
Embrace doesn’t mean just looking for the bright side or silver lining in a person or situation. To me, embrace means accepting something or someone just as they are and not wishing them to be different. Embrace means not resisting but being open to the opportunities and lessons that situation or person provides.
Embrace also means accepting me—all of me, just as I am. It means embracing those things I wish were different about me and finding the brilliance in them. More importantly, embrace means recognizing and honoring who I am at my very essence, which will be a challenge. Growing up, I was taught to play small and not call attention to myself; that I was nothing special. I can tell you not much good came from that. To move forward, need to embrace and celebrate my unique gifts.
That’s one of the things I love most about coaching. I get to help my clients see their unique gifts and celebrate those with them. Because the truth is we are all special. We each have our own genius or superpower that we bring to this life and it has nothing to do with what you do, what you have done, or what you may do. This genius is inherent in your being. However, many of us were never encouraged to identify and embrace those gifts. This is the year to do just that—for myself and for those around me.
My wish for you this new year is to embrace the awesomeness that you are. And may 2018 brings us all a little closer to ourselves and to each other.
Postscript: One of the first things I'm embracing this year is that this post did not turn out as I would have liked. Some days, the writing flows effortlessly. Other days, it's a struggle to string a handful of words together in a coherent sentence. This was one of those days. As the saying goes: Perfection is the enemy of done. And with that, I am hitting "publish" and walking away.
