Marking Time
Make it stand out
As I look back at the last two months of 2022, I accept that they were exactly what they needed to be. Not perfect, but filled with opportunities to learn, to grow, to practice getting back up after being knocked down.
Marking time is one of the most important things we do as people. We can acknowledge the reality that time itself changes very little about our lives. The stroke of midnight announcing a new day, the first morning of a new year signifying the start of our new resolutions, the first day of spring which may or may not bring with it warm weather - these are markers in time that in and of themselves may not have impact we can easily see. We are the ones that change and the marking provides us with the opportunity to stop and reflect. We give the change in time meaning.
At the start of the new year we reflect on what we experienced and accomplished in the previous year and we wonder, dream, plan for the next year, filled with hopeful anticipation or skepticism or sometimes fear.
Today is the first day of March and, for me, March brings the promise of spring. Hopefully the darkest, heaviest, coldest days of winter are behind us -or soon will be. The 32 degree mornings begin to peak into 50 degrees mid-day, filled with sun. Hopefully the birds are flying north and the daffodils are considering peaking their heads up out of the ground in optimism.
Today I look back at these last two months with a mix of feelings. I feel gratitude for the things I have accomplished - for the baby steps of improvement I made, for the goals I am a little closer to achieving, for the painful, exhausting moments I’ve made it through. I also feel some disappointment - for the things I didn’t start or struggle to master, for the ways I’ve wasted time or reverted to old habits.
And I feel hope. As I look back at the last two months of 2022, I accept that they were exactly what they needed to be. Not perfect, but filled with opportunities to learn, to grow, to practice getting back up after being knocked down. And because I know that the last two months held everything I needed, even when I didn’t believe it to be true, I look forward with anticipation to March, to Spring, to warmer weather. Not because it will be perfect, but because of the lessons I will learn. Because I know I’ll fall and I know I’ll get back up and the process will build resilience. In the process I will grow.
Today on March 1, 2022 I take a deep breath and exhale and move forward in gratitude in trust. I hope you will too.
