Last year was incredible. It just might have been the most I’ve ever lived up to my word: Grace. I went through some shit, sure, and ended the year on a decidedly un-graceful note with an achilles rupture and subsequent surgery, but taken on the whole, I did a good job of giving myself grace, the room to relax and be at peace with myself while continuing to work on who I am.
In 2022 I’d like to continue that journey of peace, the exploration of acceptance, but at the same time use that peace to allow me to shine BRIGHT.
The injury has brought a lot of questions into focus, perpetual questions that come up in one way or another throughout my life—all around identity. Around activity: who am I, if not a stellar athlete and active person? How do I relate to people if not through activities? Who am I, if not someone who loves the outdoors and adventures and explores and goes places on a whim? Around dependence: who am I, if I’m no longer independent and I have to rely on someone else to meet my needs? And perhaps worse, how do I articulate those needs and ask someone else to do something about what I need for myself and myself alone? Around relationships: who am I, that I don’t have a partner to do what my parents and family now “have” (get!) to do for me—and how will I meet and relate to someone new if I am not who I thought I was? Around drinking: who am I if not the party-thrower, always down for a good time?
Somehow, perhaps through literal immobility, I’ve found the peace to sit with these questions (after the first night when I berated myself for all these things while bawling through physical pain and self-flagellation anguish) and trust that I am enough. Thus, I toyed with peace, and multitudes, as this year’s word, but settled on Bright because that’s how feel right now despite this inquiry and injury, and how I want to feel for the rest of the year.
Travel: Aspen, Tahoe (superbowl trip IV), Marfa (wedding!), Galveston, Costa Rica, Jersey Shore, Tampa, Chicago, Vail/Edwards, Colombia, Chicago, LA, Nashville, Phoenix, Denver, Chicago.
2021 (grace) | 2020 (confidence) | 2019 (vulnerability) | 2018 (action) | 2017 (clarity) | 2016 (glitter) | 2015 (openness) | 2014 (is) | 2013 (happiness) | 2010 (the pretty)