January has arrived, and we've moved from the holidays into resolution-setting season. As I ponder what I desire for 2023, it's being present. Like, really present. Watching my kids play, looking people in the eye when they're talking, not filling every spare moment with scrolling something on my phone. I still have plans for improvement, but I want to appreciate the now; to recognize what's been accomplished, and show more grace to myself and everyone I interact with.
I came across this poem from poet and author Donna Ashworth, and wanted to share it with you:
“Why do we start a new year, with promises to improve? Who began this tradition of never-ending pressure?
I say, the end of a year, should be filled with congratulation, for all we survived.
And I say a new year should start with promises to be kinder to ourselves, to understand better just how much we bear, as humans on this exhausting treadmill of life.
And if we are to promise more, let’s pledge to rest, before our bodies force us.
Let’s pledge to stop, and drink in life as it happens. Let’s pledge to strip away a layer of perfection to reveal the flawed and wondrous humanity we truly are inside.
Why start another year, gifted to us on this earth, with demands on our already over-strained humanity. When we could be learning to accept, that we were always supposed to be imperfect.
And that is where the beauty lives, actually. And if we can only find that beauty, we would also find peace.
I wish you peace in 2023. Everything else is all just a part of it.
Let it be so.”
-Donna Ashworth