New Years Thoughts

Happy New Years! I am really excited to start 2020, both personally and professionally. I have to admit that the end of 2019 kinda kicked my butt and I have taken this break to rest (having the flu makes you literally stop….LOL) and get my mind back on track. I ended the year spent emotionally and physically (thus, the flu) and knew I needed to regroup. I have read several books, slept, eaten well and just vegged with the wonderful result of a new perspective. Part of that reframe came after, reading Dr. Brene Brown’s (author of Dare to Lead and much more) New Year’s post on Facebook and I wanted to share parts of it:

As far as kindness goes – [it] starts with a healthy dose of self-kindness…. I’m committed to extending that same imperfect grace to others [as well]. I’ve learned that gasping for air while volunteering to give others CPR is not heroic. It’s suffocation by resentment…

We don’t need to do awkward, brave, and kind alone. We were never meant to.

– Brene Brown

The part about taking care of yourself so you can take care of others spoke to me. As I get older, I am often reminded that life is all about the ways in which we connect, disconnect, and then repair relationships with ourselves and others. How we live through this come-together-and-move-apart dance makes the difference in how well we handle that cycle of connection. This ebb and flow may be normal, but doing it poorly harms our relationships. So in the times that I connect poorly, I need to be wiling to admit that I failed to live by my core values, forgive myself, and try connection and self-care again.

So, on this first day of 2020, as I head into the second half of my school year, I hope my connections flow, but when they ebb and there is a lack of connection, I can respond with grace, imperfect as it often is, or remain awkwardly alone and miss a chance to maintain strong relationships and live whole-heartedly. I know which way I am leaning. 🙂

May your new year be filled with love and wonderful relationships and may you connect with grace, even if it is imperfect. 🙂

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