2020 in a Blink of an Eye
In a blink of an eye a new year starts, where fresh experiences, friendships and learnings will take place. A time when resolutions are being made. For me I personally do not like making resolutions or setting goals as these get broken and can be quite stressful!
As one famous person said: “Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot.” (can you guess who said this?)
I flow like a running stream, adapt when needed and hold when necessary. I am water and it is this very nature of water that has helped me through my many life obstacles.
Two months that share the same number of days, winter dreariness and temperatures. Two months that reflect time and with unique personalities yet complement each other. Both months sensitive and flawed in their own way. Both filled with such festiveness yet differ in their reason.
While December brings about self-reflection, January offers aspirations. While one holds old memories and past experiences the other brings new promises and new beginnings.
December signifies closure while January new beginnings. One holds faith and the other hope. In our eyes what makes them unique is what they stand for…. Christmas for one and New Year for the other and yet we always unite them together in our greeting cards!
What is left un finished in December, January accepts without judgment and carries it forward. Both these months can be overwhelming for some and the transition from one to the other happens so quickly that there is no time to just be.
However, what separates them are 10 months of working and steering our ship in the direction that we seek. Changing paths, focuses and goals. Accomplishing the many tasks that we set for ourselves. Creating better and exciting memories. Building new relationships or breaking old ones to cementing existing ones through ceremonies. Witnessing the arrival of a new or holding space for a loss of a loved one.
It is during these times that we often loose our footing, bearings or connections with ourselves. We disconnect with our very core that is buried under all the pressures we have built, created or placed upon ourselves…. yet we strive on because we (hope) know better and have learnt from past mistakes.
We tend to live in these 10 months and yet it is January’s and December’s responsibility for gathering all that we have scattered through those months. Bringing us full circle not only to ourselves but to those around us. They bind and hold us together through their uniqueness and celebrations. They remind us that it is okay that things have been left incomplete. You see, what January starts December fulfils to best she can.
Although separated by months they are so close to each other that within a blink of an eye a new year begins.
Let's start this New Year with the knowledge that while January gives us hope and a new start, December will greet us with faith and the months in between the two that are just different paths to be experienced. As we step into 2020, I would like to end with a quote by Maya Angelou.
“My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a world with your acts of kindness. Continue to allow humour to lighten the burden of your tender heart.”
Art by Renate van Nijen