An Open Letter to the New Year – 2021

Dear 2021,

You are a mystery. Well actually, every new year is a mystery—what will it bring? But you are a ginormous mystery with the state of the world being as it is. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for quite some time. But now that you are here, well, right off the bat you have confused me.

My very first conscious moment on New Year’s Day went something like this:

I was dreaming that I was sucking on a piece of candy and then I woke up, only to realize that in real life, at 3:05am, I was sucking on one of my silicone earplugs. WTF? How the hell did it get from my ear into my mouth? And GROSS.

Needless to say, I’ve spent a lot of time searching the internet for dream interpretation to translate your hidden message to me. There’s not a lot on point that comes up when you search for “what does it mean when you dream you are sucking on candy but in reality, you are sucking on one of your earplugs?”

I’ll get back to the dream, but first, it strikes me that over the eleven years that I’ve been writing letters to the new year, I’m almost always saying “good riddance” to the old year. That’s actually not a great practice. I mean really, each and every year of our lives is worth celebrating—even the years where it seems we’ve been repeatedly sucker punched in the gut (I’m speaking to you, 2020).

Last year was one that none of us ever hope to live again. A worldwide pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes and floods, a derecho, unemployment, toilet paper shortages, food shortages, gun violence, death (So. Much. Death.), isolation, virtual school, worry about our loved ones who are frontline workers, the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and the constant chaos in the White House. Concerts, sports, dining out, hugging friends, travel, weddings and so many other things were cancelled that one can get bleary-eyed trying to name them all.

But despite all of the ugly last year, there are also things to be grateful for. There’s always good in the world, only sometimes we have to look under a lot of rocks to find it. 2020 brought social justice to the forefront with worldwide masses supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. There was record voter turnout. Carbon emissions are down, hopefully giving Mother Earth a chance to start healing herself. And how amazing it is that the entire world came together to develop Covid vaccines (plural) in record time?

On the Shama Sanctuary home front, cultivating our organic vegetable garden brought a lot of joy, something Eric and I normally can’t do because we travel too much. Several of our friendships have strengthened, and even business relationships now have a vulnerable authenticity to them. There is a deepened love and appreciation for family (oh how we want to hug every one of them). And we’ve each learned, after spending every waking and non-waking hour together for ten months now, that we really did marry our best friend.

A couple weeks ago my friend Beth sent me soft, cozy, tie-dye pajamas because she knows how much I loooove jammies. I change into them every night right after dinner, and sometimes I wear pajama bottoms all day. Receiving these new PJs reminded me about a blog post I wrote seven years ago and its timely message about creating a better moment.

With this in mind, a week ago we were hit with the first Nor’easter of the year. We woke up to a foot of heavy, wet snow. Eric and I put on our snow boots, winter coats and warm gloves and went outside. Not looking forward to digging out the cars or to the back-breaking work of shoveling all that snow, we did what any reasonable middle-aged adults would do under these circumstances: We threw our bodies into the deep snow and made snow angels. In other words, we created a better moment.

Now that you have arrived, Year 2021, I know that it won’t be easy-peasy from the start. The daily death rates from Covid are near impossible to comprehend, and all of those other 2020 hardships haven’t disappeared overnight, especially for people like my two sisters and brother-in-law who work long hours as nurses treating Covid patients, or for people who are sick, or going hungry and having trouble keeping a roof over their heads. But we are going into the new year having survived one of the worst years ever. Through all the hardships of 2020, we grew more compassionate, and more aware of the world around us. The past year taught us that humans are more resilient than we ever dreamed. Even though we need to physically distance from one another, we’ve still found a way to connect with people through Zoom game dates, video happy hours, leaving garden harvest goodies on people’s front porches, and even by visiting loved ones in nursing homes by sitting outside their windows while talking on the phone. Many of us have attended Zoom funerals and Shivas and found them surprisingly comforting. We can’t hug, but we can still be there for one another. There’s much to look forward to this year—such as vaccines for all, a new president, and hopefully lots of hugs with our loved ones.

Now back to that weird dream about sucking on candy when in reality I was instead sucking on a silicone earplug. I finally figured out what it means. The fact that it involved earplugs means that I need to listen to the message of the dream. Because I was sucking on candy in the dream, it means that I need to always find the sweetness in life. In other words, if the moment isn’t working, I need to create a better moment.

This is where my promise to you, dearest New Year, comes in. When I’m hit with a grief surge about the state of the world, or I’m overcome by irritability or other emotions, I’m going to break the cycle by asking myself what I can do to create a better moment. Maybe I’ll call a loved one to tell them I care about them. Or perhaps I’ll go sit with the deer when they visit and marvel that we are so comfortable together. Or I’ll do qigong, make myself a cup of tea, take a walk, bake a pie, take a bubble bath, or go put on my new pajamas. Anything to create a better moment.

In closing, Year 2021, I think I love you already. Please love me back.

Sincerely,

Kee Kee

Tagged as: Happy New Year, Inspiration, pandemic life