New year or not yet
Hi there! I feel a bit like this crocus, popping up to take in a little sunshine and say hello to you on this Full Snow Moon. Although by now we've had a few entry points to the "new year" – January 1st, Inauguration Day in the US, Lunar New Year – each time I find myself thinking "not just yet." Maybe you can relate?
While our finances and schedules are often calibrated to a January 1st start date, our physical bodies, our psyche, is more likely calibrated to the urge to hibernate, lay low, and enjoy the stillness and quiet of the wintry months. There's good reason the groundhog took one look above ground and decided it wasn't time to call it spring.
We're coming up on one year since life as we knew it changed dramatically and rapidly. Many are only just now coming back from a long stretch of operating in survival mode. Activated nervous systems requiring space to rest and digest from the intense experiences. Many others are still very much in the thick of it.
For almost a decade now, the winter months guide my personal transformative cycle. This year, it's touched a deeper and more tender place around trauma and loss. The massive scale of collective and sudden loss – loss of life, security, stability, familiarity, connection – brought up different layers of my own past experiences and grief that have taken time to be with and tend to in slow and gentle ways. Perhaps you feel this in your own way too.
Regardless of personal views or proximity to those immediately impacted, we can each hold a space of compassion for the ways these losses of the past year will have a generational impact. The more we can be present to mourn with those who mourn, to comfort those who need comfort, including ourselves, the more healing we can experience and access in real time.
It's OK if you haven't reached your gateway into a new year just yet. Perhaps the upcoming Spring Equinox will be your time of rebirth. It's important to honor the personal cycle and season you're in, allowing space and time to digest your experiences, release what's no longer aligned, and renew your commitment to your life's path. Each day is an opportunity to start again. If you find yourself still deep in your cave, let this be a reminder to pop your head out now and again for a little fresh air and sunlight. You'll know when it's time to get your new year started.
If you're already full steam ahead into the new, congratulations! Your momentum is an inspiration and point of light for others. Keep going! You hold the space for action and movement open for those who aren't there just yet. And when you need to take a break and rest, we'll have your back too.
We're living in a time when the bone memory of our ancestors is needed. We're made of strong stuff that will carry us through. Communities of care and deeply rooted systems of support have always been the key to not just surviving, but thriving in challenging times. If you don't feel connected to support in your current day-to-day life, remember that it lives inside of you always. The resilience, ingenuity, and perseverance of your lineage is what makes it possible for you to be here, reading these words today. You carry the strength of thousands in your bones and it's coursing through your veins with each beat of your heart. You never walk alone.
May the light of springtime find it's way to you in perfect time.
