This is 2022.
photo by Sun Valley Resort
As I sit on the heels of 2021 (and while I am not sad to be moving on from another pandemic filled year) I am grateful –grateful for all the experiences good and bad that have shaped this last year. Why?
Because there was a time a few years ago that I stopped learning and growing. Back then I didn’t know it was this that was happening, I just knew I was stuck, frozen in time, unable to look backward or see my way forward. My light had gone out. The fire stopped burning.
It took a major life event a few years later for me to better understand those times. But now I see it so clearly and am forever grateful for all that I have learned since. While 2020 was more about reaching inward —looking deeply at what moves me— 2021 was about reaching outward —connecting with friends old and new, students, counselors, cohorts, teammates and everyone in between that contributed to my learning. So, my reflection for this past year has everything to do with the theme of learning —and my hope for humanity is that we all never stop learning. After all, it is the basis for human kindness, for our propensity to change, and for a better world.
So, I leave you here with the eight things I learned this last year
That “learning” is itself a destination.
To be open to everything yet attached to nothing.
Strangers can become fast friends.
Reaching out is as important as reaching in.
To never stop stoking the fire.
That it’s ok to be a little selfish —the kids will be ok.
Everyone needs someone to hold space for them, I learned how to give and receive wholeheartedly.
Old friends are forever family.
So now, as I look ahead to 2022, I feel clear, I feel loved, I feel powerful. I will use my voice and my words in every way I know how to achieve positive change.
I am ready to move mountains.
I will not stand still, I will not sit back and watch the world unfold in front of me. I will be here [with you] to shape it, to shift it, to move it —to both build it up and break it down— together we will move mountains.
This is 2022.
#movingmountains2022