The Year Ahead
On Friday I celebrated my 29th birthday. Throughout the day I found myself feeling quiet, contemplative, and serene. I was in a state of constant extrospection of the stark contrast of how the world felt on this birthday versus my other 28 birthdays. It was as if I was subtly observing a new world from the outside looking in. I noticed that it feels like our world is collectively exhausted. We are traveling the downhill slope of a very steep mountain; we survived the peak, but we have yet to reach our next climb upwards. We are sitting in a valley of lost hopes, despair, and fatigue watching the first glimmer of a potential new sunrise. An inconceivable bomb of truth has already hit our internal landscapes and we all sit in what remains. It looks and feels bare, but we can choose to see it as a clean slate, and it has the potential for the creation of necessary change.
I believe that our future it is up to each of us on an individual level. The takeaway from my birthday insights is that we must all be diligent on a daily basis to give ourselves what we each personally need. What I mean by this is:
If you need rest, rest.
If you need to be heard, take five minutes to journal and hear yourself or call a loved one who can listen and truly hear you.
If you feel energized and inspired, work and create.
If you feel lethargic, drink more water.
If you feel sad, cry.
If you are done feeling sad, listen to music or watch a comedy.
If you feel left out, do something nice for someone else.
If you feel angry, scream.
If you feel content, then be.
If you feel confused, get still and quiet for five minutes.
If you feel enraged, express it through movement.
Why are these self-care practices so important right now? So that when the time comes, you are ready. What I mean by this:
When a stranger in need seeks your help, you have the energy to help because you are rested.
When a friend or loved one upsets you, you can pause and journal/scream/get still etc., so you can approach the situation in a way that increases the chances of a peaceful resolution as opposed to more conflict and hate.
When you feel hurt by someone, you don’t feel the need to hurt them back because you have practiced loving yourself, and now know where to find the comfort you seek in a healthy way.
When someone makes a racist comment, you have the energy and confidence to stand up for what is right.
When you have an urge to gossip, you may decide against it because you know that will not lead to fulfillment.
When you need to make an important decision that affects a group, you do not react, or act from emotions, you have the ability to make a decision based upon true logic and conscious awareness.
When you feel stuck and lost, you know how to take care of yourself so that you don’t stay stuck, lost, and resentful.
This list can go on and on. Point being, how we act and live in our daily lives directly affects our environment. This happens through our decisions, habits, the energy we put out, what we buy, how we spend our time, how we choose to treat others, etc. Our individual environments that we create affect our neighborhoods, which affect our cities, which affect our states, which affect our nations, which affect our world. This does not mean we must be perfect. On the contrary, the more “mistakes” we make the better, as long as we work to implement what we learn from them. We are human beings, that is our role, and being a butt-head at times is part of our God-given job description.
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