Peace in stillness. A quiet, small sadness; a mourning for all lost. A resilient strength to push on through. A knowing that this, too, will soon be archived in memory. A sunrise. A sunset. Purveyors of hope. A choice to believe in better. To savor the beautiful. To wring out droplets of joy. Tiny breaths. Exhales for 2020. A deep inhale at the ready for 2021…. words, image: ©LeisaHammett.com
2020—What did you learn? What did we learn? What did I learn?:
I may have just been accused of being Pollyanna. I question that of myself regularly. Yet, again and again, I justify my thoughts based on my experiences—which have included my own share of grief, heartaches and disappointments…it’s all here in the blog…as well as observations of others who were able to mine the silver linings of their grief….
As we eagerly heaved, kicked, and middle fingered this ridiculously and unendingly cruel year of 2020 out the door, I believe we’d be remiss if we didn’t look at the myriad of lessons it taught us. I’ve been writing about this here since March….I do acknowledge that it is a position of white privilege to talk about silver linings. I am not an oppressed minority (and the myriad of systemic and societal injustices that entails). Yet, I do live life with a daughter who has a significant disAbility, albeit, she is still protected and privileged to certain degrees because of her skin color.
If we’ve been awake, we’ve been made to face the music of a lopsided culture that’s built on the backs of those less fortunate. If we’ve been awake, we’ve had a chance to look at each of our own contributions to this.
Here is my list of what I’ve learned, gained, lost, observed—again acknowledging I have the privilege to say this—
Connection—friends, family and deeply with nature
Weight gain (pandemic emotional salve) and weight loss (proving I can do it again)
Greater understanding of life, purpose, perspective
Improved my iPhoneography (which was a deliberate daily focus on creating/creativity; I also realized how essential creating is to self-care, wholeness and our spiritual journey and connection)
Faced racism within myself, and more clearly in culture—both, ongoing (thank you for the warriors; Brianna, George, and all others, RIP. Your deaths were not in vain.)
