The Therapy Gods Are Undefeated | Season One: Episode 5
Three things need to happen before I feel I have written from a place of who I am and not how I feel concerning the year 2022:
First, I need Wordle to teach me more words; until then, I am still looking for the ones I need to feel satisfied.
Secondly, I need the spirit of Toni Morrison to visit me as if she were the cheerful, light-hearted Ghost of Christmas Present in the Muppet Christmas Carol. I need her to show me how all this will matter, and to give me an outside angle to capture the depth of the characters and the reflections within my soul, as only Toni Morrison could teach.
Lastly, through acts of mercy that drive my curiosity to anticipate the blessings of the upcoming year, I aim to live for the people who choose to love and let love. The time will come when I can capture the feeling of being swept up in a violent tornado for 34 weeks, as if in the opening scene of The Wizard of Oz, and of being protected within the chaos as it ripped through every inch of my past and present.
Dorothy and I would disagree that there’s no place like home. There is a place better than home, a life better than we have seen. I agree, however, to meet people along the way to grow with you and be vulnerable, who want to feel educated and wise, who wish to be kindhearted, and who want to take risks with unmistakable courage. I am fortunate that at the end of this year, I still have my scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion with me heading into 2023.
While I visualize lighting a candle in a church somewhere on a hillside to hold vigil for all that was 2022, I can start the new year with clarity. An open-minded approach to a clean slate is partly because of a company called Ink and Volt, and of a lifestyle I have adopted, setting an annual theme of creating flexible goals rather than annual resolutions.
Here are some reasons why I will not go back to making yearly resolutions:
Resolutions feel similar to making decisions that you know will leave you depressed, but you do them anyway. Creating goals feels like aligning with what we value and is essential to us.
Resolutions give off negative vibes, like realizing the person you are crushing on doesn’t even know who Brene Brown is – #blocked. Themes greet us with energy, like Oprah and her daughters singing the welcome song as we approach the house for a weekend stay. #HardworkPaysOff
I have been using this method since 2018 and was looking back through some old themes and yearly thoughts to see how I have slowly built on each year to enter 2023 as the person I am.
This upcoming year, my theme is: I will be confident and consistently aim to hit my goals each week, while allowing self-compassion through the hits and misses.
There is a lot to be excited about, but knowing life is messy and unpredictable helps me remember to practice self-compassion between the hits and misses. We all have great intentions 2 minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve, and crossing off a certain number of items and goals each month doesn’t mean any of us is losing or winning. We will learn, or we will grow each day of 2023 – not win or lose.
Could you start your year as who YOU want to be?
Learning to connect with ourselves more deeply as we reset for another year is essential to recognizing our dreams and the purpose of living within us.
2023 needs all of us to show up as our most authentic selves, thriving with the PASSION and TALENTS that are uniquely ours.
If you are looking for a planner or guide to start your year, I have found theInk and Volt yearly planner a helpful resource for finding and living out my most authentic self each year.I wrote a review you can read, and it shares themes from past years if you need any motivation to set your own.
I look forward to sharing more with you and hearing how you live a year filled with deeper connection to the parts of you that yearn to feel loved and valued. As my favorite verse in the song, Auld Lang Syne, suggests, “I share with you friends, enemies, and the legends that live in my stories from years gone by a cup of kindness yet for old times’ sake.”
I’ll gladly drink to that. Happy New Year.
-That Friend Katie