Hello New Year! This is me.
Monday, January 14, 2013 at 3:00 AM Two weeks into 2013 and I’m still wrestling with my inner critic over the fact that I haven’t yet shared an "inspiring" New Year post. No doubt you’ve already been inundated with a zillion ways to begin 2013, so I could label myself "late to the party" or simply be satisfied for not adding additional clutter.
A guest piece I penned for another blog (that was scheduled to post January 5) was detained due to technical difficulties on their site. The entry I had painstakingly written was set-aside for the time being and my chance at joining the New Year revelry early on was vanquished.
So... I could continue to chastise myself for not being brilliant and giving you the Best 10 Tips to Begin Your Year or... I could consider the technical difficulties a beautiful gift and share the post I had already written.
Several months ago when I was invited to do the guest post for the unnamed blog, I was thrilled and an array of ideas began to rapidly bubble through my mind. The editor encouraged me to write from the heart and not get carried away with all of the traditional New Year commerciality. The prospect thoroughly excited me... until it was time to write.
December 31, 2012Then all I could hear in my head were well wishes of “Happy New Year” and questions about how I was going to make my next year the best one yet, lose the requisite ten pounds, and vow to become something extraordinary that I hadn’t quite mastered in previous years. It left me feeling cold, uninspired and mentally blocked. So, I stepped back, regrouped and started again... and again... until I finally decided to ‘fess up and share my stuckness.
Truth is: my perspective on the New Year is slightly sticky for a couple of reasons.
- One: I’m not a huge fan of mandated or expectant celebrations. (I much prefer to get creative and experience things in a free-flowing way.)
- And, Two: my birthday happens to be in September which, in my perspective, is the “real” new year.
Through many shared conversations, I’ve learned that a large percentage of people agree and relate more directly to a school year rather than a calendar one... or they consider their birthdate to be a more apt beginning. So, you see, I hit the double jackpot: a birthday at the beginning of the school year.
As a girl I remember preparing for school each autumn—buying school supplies, gathering a new wardrobe, preparing for the days to come, and wearing wool in September even in 90-degree weather just because the calendar said it was time to shift.
It’s really not so different (now that I think about it) than turning over a new page on the calendar. How do I handle things when the calendar prompts me to shift—be it January 1, September 1 or any of the other 363 days in the year? How do you?
Pondering this, I’ve noticed that I like to explore where I’ve been and consider where I want to go. I toss out the mandates and choose to do it on my terms. Do I really want to lose ten pounds or do I want to step more fully into my own life? Will one impact the other? If so, then how?
While I’ve rarely been a person to make a big splash on December 31, a couple of memories do come into focus. One happened about 5 years ago when my husband and I opted to stay in for a quiet evening. Nostalgically, I decided to pull out an assortment of photographs I’d inherited after my mother’s death.
Being the youngest of three siblings, the novelty of my existence had worn off almost as soon as I arrived. Therefore, the camera did not document my every move as it often does with firstborn children.
This particular New Year as I sorted through Polaroids and school headshots, I was delighted to uncover at least one photo for each year of my young life. Someone had carefully documented my existence. My favorite shot in the whole series was one that few people would select as the most beautiful or the “happiest” time in my life.
Just a few weeks before the school photo was taken, I had the unfortunate accident of falling off my bicycle and breaking three of my four newly minted permanent teeth. I looked like a lop-sided urchin with pin-curled hair and a poorly disguised fat lip. The unexpected delight of this picture came when I looked on the back and discovered my perfectly scrawled (and newly mastered) cursive signature.
The photo wholeheartedly represented my New Year! There were no perceived pounds to lose or unattainable life for which to strive. There was only that moment in time. It was my time. No one else’s. There was no need to succumb to the expectations of the world. I was perfect and no one could tell me anything different. I didn’t need a banner to announce what “happy” was.
The second New Year memory came entering 2012 as I gathered with a few soul friends and together we acknowledged what we wanted to let go from the prior year. We wrote our farewells on scraps of paper and, as midnight arrived, we tossed our challenges into a blazing fire to prepare the way for new beginnings. It was a lovely and memorable time.
Today, I invite you to consider this alongside me... How do you prepare the way for new beginnings?
What would it mean to dedicate this coming year to you... beautiful lopsided you? What if ‘happy’ meant being content with how things are? If ‘growing’ meant discovering a little more each day... or not?
What if time weren’t a factor and letting go rather than latching on was the answer? What if January 1 (or today or the next) were simply the continuation of your unique beautiful life? What if you tossed out the expectations of the world and celebrated you... whole, perfect, just-as-you-are you?
What if together we formed a band of rebels that declared ourselves perfectly perfect at the beginning of this New Year? Would you be in? Would you join me?
Would you scrawl your signature on your favorite picture and say, “Hello, world! This is me!”?
Reader Comments (4)
I so love this, Kayce! I too wrestled with the 'shoulds' of thinking I needed to do something BIG to usher in the new year. But the truth is any day (really, any moment) can be a new start if we choose it to be. And even more important, we can realize how perfect things already are. That's why the line "What if ‘happy’ meant being content with how things are?" really hit me. Whoa! What if in all our striving and DOing and trying to find happiness, we could stop and realize we've had it all along? It could really be that simple. Brilliant!
I'm In... I'll join your "Band of Rebels", "Just As I Am". Your writing prompted me to dig out a school picture of myself. I clearly remember timidly walking up to the camera, w/ swollen eyes because I didn't want my picture taken with a broken arm and no front teeth. I'll leave my "Just as I am" photo taped to the wall, as a reminder that I"m OK, " Just as I am". That I can allow myself to just let things be... as they are... to allow them to EVOLVE into "whatever". And then take "whatever", and embrace it.
Oh yeah, I'm in!:) xoxo
lovely Kayce something to ponder indeed!