Last year I made a resolution that for the first time ever I actually kept: I quit resolutions.
Yep, that’s right. No New Year rule I was bound to break weeks later and wrestle with guilt about. Nada. Done. Finito.
But here’s what I did do instead: I picked a word. One word that would encompass the next three-hundred-and-sixty-five days of my life. I simply closed my eyes, and let whatever word wanted to be with me come into my consciousness. And you know what landed?
Connection.
How funny (and yet not, if you know the way the world works).
Connection.
There’s arguably been a large amount of disconnect this year. Flights have been canceled; friends have gone unseen. I once spent my career speaking on stages and now I’m banished behind a screen. I desperately miss hugging people and high-fiving. I miss looking at someone’s full face as they pass by in the store and knowing that they’re smiling back.
But as I reflect on a year where things seemed anything but connected, I know that my word didn’t fall flat. My original definition of it did.
You see, 2020 has made me redefine a lot of things, including what it means to have a relationship with someone. So as GNO’s went digital and date nights moved to my backyard, I realized that connection can happen anywhere. It doesn’t need glitz and glam. It doesn’t need spas and wait staff. It just needs willingness. An effort to see the person in front of you (even from a screen).
So as we enter another year, while some of our old ways to connect stay stalled, try looking a little deeper into what you wanted from those experiences or people anyway. Was it to be seen? Heard? Know you matter? None of that has been sacrificed.
Pick a word, but better yet, choose to look for a deeper meaning to it.
Happiest of New Year’s, everyone. Should all acquaintance(s) never be forgot.
To More Love,
Stephanie
