I’ve been taking some time to contemplate and unwind 2020.  What a year it has been! It was unstable and uncertain in so many ways, a challenge for many to pause, pivot and adapt.  For some, an opportunity to learn and grow in resiliency and to rediscover priorities in life.  For others, a struggle to find meaning, make ends meet and survive. Regardless of how we chose to go through 2020, we find ourselves with the Christmas Holidays upon us, faced with more uncertainty as we head into 2021.

If I have learned anything through this pandemic it is that our mindset matters. How we choose to view the world as it unfolds has a direct impact on how we feel about what is happening around us. And how we feel about things impacts how we show up in our own lives. As a family, we are having conversations about how to shift and make sense of the world.  It is possible to do hard things, even hard things we don’t want to do.  Every day, we find the strength to shift, cope and even thrive by acknowledging what we are truly grateful for.  

Gratitude is a gateway to freedom.

Freedom from worry over the things we can’t control.  Freedom from judgement.  Freedom from stress and fear.  Freedom to step outside the paradigm we’ve been living in to make room for a new way of being. Freedom to go through the hard stuff without the pressure of getting it just right.  Freedom to learn about ourselves and what truly makes us happy.  Freedom to just be.

I’ve shifted my thinking when it comes to those unpleasant and stifling words like lockdown, quarantine, isolation…to hibernation.  Ahhh!  Who couldn’t benefit from a little hibernation?  Extra rest, time to re-organize, declutter, catch up on projects long left undone, to spend quality time with our immediate families, to play, to create, to step into new routines of self-care and self-love.  

Perhaps this hibernation as we go into 2021 isn’t a punishment or a setback.  What if it is a gift? What if, within this gift there are little gems yet to be discovered?

As the light returns and we move into the new year, let us do so with an open heart and mind.  Let us pause and reflect.

We have been here before. How will this hibernation be different than the last?  Where did we struggle?  Where did we thrive?  And how will we choose to do the hard thing this time?

There is always a choice.

To those who have cancelled holiday plans. 

I see you.

To those who aren’t seeing family and friends this season.

I see you.

To those that are watching others have social gatherings and it upsets you.

I see you.

To those that struggle, who are lonely, who are afraid.

I see you.

To those that are exhausted, working like zombies to support our communities.

I see you.

To those who are thriving.

I see you.

To those that feel they need to bend the rules to do what they feel is right.

I see you.

To those who struggle between what the heart wants and the head insists.

I see you.

These choices are not easy.  And each of our circumstances are different.

Your choices matter. To you.  To your family. To your community.

You can make the hard choice to break the rules.  

You can make the hard choice to obey the rules.

Make no mistake, your choice matters.

Either way, you are not alone.

And regardless of your choice, we are in this together.

2021 will unfold in its own unpredictable way just as all the years before have. Life has always been impacted by our choices, this isn’t new.  Our choices through the eons have impacted ourselves, our families and our communities.  What we choose has always mattered.  It isn’t that it matters more right now in the midst of a pandemic, it is just that the consequences are louder right now. 

The consequences might be more severe, right now.

The consequences might be more of a blessing, right now.

Only you can decide how you choose to view your choices.  Only you can decide what you are comfortable with.  Only you can decide what hard choice is the right choice for you.

No judgement.

I see you.

You are not alone.

Together or apart, please know that I hold space for you in my heart.  That I feel blessed to be walking this journey with you, in this moment in time.  May your heart be full, your home be warm, your mind find peace, and may you find freedom in your choice this holiday season.

Merry Christmas!

Xo Juli