Seven Things: December 2020
There is a saying that I think about each year on December 31st, which goes: how you spend NYE is how you’re going to spend your whole year. As we prepare to enter 2021, I find myself thinking back to what happened a year ago. The evening was fantastic. We were living in Connecticut, my best friend and her boyfriend (now fiancé) were spending the night, and my baby was just a few months old. We played games, we rested, we dressed up, we ate - and at 11:40pm, I was whisked away by the cries of my little one, missing the ball drop as I nursed her in the dark as the clock struck midnight. In retrospect, I can feel the lessons of that night. And my goodness, has this been a year of lessons. I’ll save those for another day.
As I stumbled on to this site a few days ago, I noticed that my last blog post was on March 15, 2020. I remember writing that post, sharing the tips and tricks I had learned about remote work, hoping to help others who were doing it for the first time. And here we are, nearly a year in to the global pandemic that has disrupted just about every element of our lives. But as I think about how much my life has been disrupted, I am feeling incredibly lucky. I am alive. 339,000 people in the U.S. are not. Over 1.7 million people across the globe are not. And so many others are dying of other diseases, systemic racism is still fully present and killing people in the U.S. every day, the climate is still changing, and children are still hungry. With all of these things on my mind, and many more, I am reminded that it is okay to still find joy. It is still okay to breathe. It is still okay to practice self-care. It is still okay to feel sad, even if your situation is far better than that of others. In fact, I believe more than ever, if we don’t do and feel all of these things, the world will never heal. Of course, it cannot stop there - but it must start there.
With that, I am leaning in to something I have been missing since March 15th, which is my writing. For me, writing is an incredibly important tool that offers an opportunity to look inward, to reflect, to clarify my thinking, and to practice courage by sharing. So this journal is to become my sacred space for 2021. A space to write, to reflect, to lean into my truth, and to share it, just in case it might help someone else to feel less alone. So to get started, each month, I’ll share seven things that I’m learning about, reflecting on, reading, watching, listening to, buying, or doing. If nothing else, I am excited to simply reflect each month and to capture this part of my journey over the next year, so I can look back at what I was experiencing each month.
Here we go, as we close out 2020 with my first “Seven Things”.
In 2020, I cooked a lot. I set out to cook or bake a recipe from all 52 of my cookbooks (I know, I know). I officially got about halfway there, and then we moved - and I had to put a bunch of cookbooks in storage. I kept cooking and baking though! My favorite cookbooks/resources this year were Perfectly Golden (if you have dietary restrictions and love to bake - get this now!), Half Baked Harvest, and the NYTimes Cooking App. I even launched a fun Instagram to capture my dairy-free culinary adventures, @madewithoutdairy.
Books are always a source of energy for me. I really, really love to read. A few of my favorites this year: Let My People Go Surfing, Toil & Trouble, Decolonizing Wealth, Untamed, Me and White Supremacy, So You Want To Talk About Race, Almost Everything: Notes on Hope, Burnout, and The Scent Keeper. I track all of my reading on GoodReads, became obsessed with the Libby App at the beginning of the Spring (I was very late to the e-book game, but the pandemic changed that fairly quickly when my library visits came to a halt - this offers a great virtual option), and I now try to order all non-library books either locally or on Bookshop.Org.
I am the daughter and sister of two healers - spirituality has become an increasingly important part of my life, thanks in large part to both of them. One of my favorite practices is the use of Angel Cards (it was quite “woo-woo” to me at first too, but I now fully embrace them). I recently pulled three from a Life’s Purpose Deck: Justice, Writing, and Oracle Cards. Yup, those three definitely resonate (!). Justice + Writing are already an important part of my work and life. In the past, I have done some Oracle/Angel Card readings for friends, so I hope to lean into doing more in the coming months.
Not seeing Hamilton when it was off-broadway and tickets were $30 is probably my biggest regret (I really try not to hold on to things, so it might be my only regret). I resisted watching it on TV, but my husband finally convinced me. And WOW, it is incredible! If you haven’t watched it yet, please do yourself a favor and watch.
Every year, I look forward to getting a new planner. For many years, I was completely dedicated to the Passion Planner. With a baby, I took two years off and tried a few others. None were quite right, so I am back. In my opinion, the Passion Planner is absolutely the best tool to stay organized and on track - with work, life, and goals - all in one place.
I recently found a new app that I absolutely love: Streaks. I use it to track the daily habits that are most important to me, and I set a goal each month or week for what “success” looks like - it’s never 100% these days, and that’s okay.
I am going to close out this round of seven with a question that I have been asking myself a lot lately. How do you want people to talk about you? This question has nothing to do with ‘caring too much’ about what other people think - it’s about how you want to show up for others, how you want to be seen, how you want to be remembered. I’m talking about: how can I be kinder, more generous, thoughtful, caring, and present for the people in my life. Join me in spending some time in reflection on that same question.
