Whew! The first two months of the new year are already done and I am just now coming back to write about 2022. If I’m honest, these end of year reflections used to feel fun and something I looked forward to but I still feel like I haven’t fully processed 2020. As they say…time marches on and waits for no one, so the years keep flying by. In 2020, I was finally pregnant after years of infertility. I was looking forward to meeting my little one and having the new mom experience and all of that came to a screeching halt with COVID. I know everyone has a story about how their life was impacted by COVID and for many it was was more intense than my journey. My family has stayed mostly healthy these past years and in the best turn of events I could have imagined, I work from home and get to see my daughter all the time. It has not been without its challenges though and it’s hard when life has all but resumed without a second thought to so many changes that needed to be made on local, national and global levels.
But, that could be a post all on its own. 2022 definitely offered some unique challenges and blessings too.
Restore. It was my last year in my 30’s and I made time for some yoga (my first full uninterrupted class in 2+ years was on Mother’s Day) and got two massages. I had dreamed of having a massage after I had my daughter and I just never found a way to feel safe about doing that. I had 2 in two weeks time at the end of 2022 which was so so lovely and then I gifted one to my mom as well! We did some traveling as a family which is a new adventure in itself but was a nice way to unwind from the grind of being mostly home the past few years. I wish I could say my sleep was restored in 2022 (alas we did NOT get a sleeper) but I think there were a few shifts that gave me some longer stretches of deeper rest.
Strengthen. We all got the chance to strengthen both our immune systems and our ability to cope with disappointment. My daughter was eligible for the COVID vaccine which felt like a new lease on what had so far been a pretty restricted life. With the vaccine we opened our lives a bit and got lots of practice with sickness. COVID still hasn’t struck our house which feels mostly like luck at this point, but we did have a lot of fevers and colds. My mom immune system was stronger than I imagined and I was mostly the nurse and hardly the patient. We had to cancel a couple different plans/trips we had due to illness which was a new experience from our locked down life. My daughter didn’t know the difference one way or the other so the disappointment was mostly for me to navigate. A family health scare and my sister giving birth to her first child strengthened family bonds and made me more aware of the importance of family time. I’m happy to report that family member is mostly back to themselves and Aurora also loves spending time with her cousin.
My word for 2023 is Presence. It feels good and I have some ideas about how I want to live it. I guess it remains to be seen if I decide to write about it. This blog used to be a monthly touchstone for me in my life and in my business. Things have changed so dramatically that I no longer visit this space as often as I used to nor do I have the business goals I once had. I will definitely keep this page since I don’t know what the future holds but I am noticing the shift and feeling ok with it.
