Moved by this Monday - New Beginnings
Happy New Year.
Today I was planning to post about new beginnings. How I love them. How I’m one of those annoying people who likes Mondays. I also love the first of the month, the first of the year, the beginning of a new book, the start of a journey, new friendships, new projects. The newness. The freshness. A clean start.
That’s all true. But it’s also true I woke up today feeling like crap. Tired. Feeling a little under the weather. Feeling a little like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. Another dreary, rainy day. Nothing particular to look forward to in the next 24 hours. A little daunted by some things that are in front of me, longer term, that I need to figure out. And, probably more than anything, feeling a little constrained by the frequent monotony of day-to-day life.
Also I woke up when my dog, who sometimes eats poop, licked me on my lip.
One of my first instincts almost immediately this morning was to book a flight somewhere. Pretty much anywhere although I have a couple of specific destinations in mind.
I still might do that, but something else wills me to stay put for a bit. Part of that something is my bank account. I keep checking and it turns out I am still not a Rockefeller unfortunately. But the other part is a sense that I might benefit from sitting still with some unease and discomfort.
I’m still excited about the new year but I might not be fully ready to let the last one go. I’ve been thinking about this idea of a brag sheet. I haven’t really started it, but I’m throwing the idea out to you too in case it sounds helpful. Maybe I’m partly pulling from my marketing background, and the exercise of extracting key messages about a company, about the team, about the work they do. What are the points of pride that I want every person relevant to their business to know about the company?
What if we did that for ourselves. What would be on your points of pride list for 2022? What were the big accomplishments, the small wins? Things you let go, things you embraced.
I’d have to think about mine a little more, but some of mine would be:
Keeping up my running practice
Walking a Camino
Leaving a job that wasn’t right for me
Starting my own business
Going to therapy
Starting to write again
Connecting with old acquaintances and new
What’s exciting about a new year is the opportunity not to be a “new me” but to be me. Sometimes I think it’s one of the hardest things. To shrug off what others expect you to be, and to just be.
A new year is also a celebration of life. We made it through, again. We’re here. Life is short, it is flying by. But we are still here.
Along with that celebration can be pressure too though. What exactly are we doing with our lives? What do the choices we make say about us, about who we are? Are my choices aligned with who I want to be?
I thought it would be a good time to share a quote. Something profound. In truth I love a good quote anytime whether it’s a new year or not.
I’m sorry to tell you the quote that came to mind is a string of words from the movie Hope Floats. OK, it’s not Plato. It’s not Maya Angelou. But it’s good.
“Beginnings are usually scary. Endings are usually sad. But it's what's in the middle that counts. So when you find yourself at the beginning, just give hope a chance to float up. And it will.”
― Steven Rogers, Hope Floats: The Screenplay
I wish everyone a year of growth, success, and abundance. And I also wish you a year of being you and doing the things that light you up.
I think that is a worthwhile exercise. I will try to enumerate the wins!