Gifts of 2020

A simple list of good things from this past year: 

1. Health.  I've realized, at a deeper level, what a gift it is to wake up each day and have the opportunity to move and breathe and live and love. An opportunity that I don't want to waste. An opportunity that I feel responsible to make the most of. And while I have spent a considerable amount of time in my adult life doing some sort of exercise, most of it has been on cardio and flexibility. I naturally gravitate towards yoga and walking and running; not so much on strength. But my body is changing these days, and needing different things. So in August I joined a smaller local-owned gym and focused on getting my body strong. I hated it the first month but now I crave the endorphin boost. Bonus: I leave feeling like Wonder Woman. 

2. Nature. I've always loved being out of doors, and having extra time to go on walks and be outside this year has been wonderful. Whether it's escaping the house for a few moments alone, or with my family, being in nature truly restores my soul. I often feel the most deeply connected to my faith in nature, as well. I can see a colorful mushroom along the side of the path and I somehow know God has not forgotten me. I can watch the morning sunrise out my office window and remember that God is a creative, too. It's these kinds of love notes that give me the confidence to keep showing up, as He does each day, to create. 

3. Friendships. Goodness, I'm not sure where to start with this one. In April, after about a month into the quarantine, I felt lonely. Let me rephrase that: I not only felt lonely but was aware of my loneliness, which was actually, in hindsight, such a gift in and of itself. It was a gift because I was able to do something about it instead of wade in the familiar waters of depression. So I texted the four women in my life that I know love me in spite of me and asked them if they wanted to start meeting over a zoom call until the craziness of Corona ended...you know, in six weeks or so. We are still meeting monthly, and being with them helps me not only feel more connected but never fails to give me perspective on life outside of my own little corner in the world. 

I also started a book club this fall on racial reconciliation. Yes, you read that correctly: a book club that focused on building racial bridges and becoming more aware of some of the uncomfortable and untold history of our county, specifically in the South.  It was everything you would think it might be: awkward, interesting, revealing. The women that showed up, however, blew me away. They embodied courage and kindness and empathy. This kind of book club was my jam, and  I may start another one in the spring. Let me know if this might be your kind of thing, too. (Sidenote: I may have chased down a woman I barely knew because the Holy Spirit told me I needed to invite her to this book club. She may have invited others. We may have shared stories and formed new friendships. It may have just been the best thing ever.)

4. Family. While having extra time together has been wonderful, if I'm honest, the extra time also revealed the condition of our hearts, and some things we needed to work on as a family. Three out of the five of us ended up going to therapy. We practiced conflict resolution often and tried our best to celebrate differences. We are still very much learning. 

5. Home. Our house finally felt like our home this year. We've worked on many exterior updates in recent years, but this year we focused on the interior. We covered the walls in white paint and changed outdated light fixtures. I painted a mural in my office and a life-size Spiderman in my nine-year old's bedroom. I repurposed a basement room into an art and maker space. I'll add one more observation...I  learned that their might just be a pretty deep connection between contentment in your heart and contentment in your home; maybe contentment in everything else, as well. 

6. Creativity.  It's interesting how creating an intentional and inspiring space for writing and making has made actually doing them so much easier. While I'm not here to make excuses, I do know that if it's an uninspiring place to be aesthetically, it's much more difficult for me to want to be there. So, this past year, I set up two spaces in our home to foster intentionality for making/creating and writing. I'm so thankful for these spaces and excited to see what will be produced in them over the next year as I make writing and creating a part of my daily life. 

7. Books. I had a long run of only being a non-fiction reader for a number of years. I told myself that smart people read these kinds of books and I wanted to be smarter.  I did learn about a number of things, but reading books was becoming synonymous with work instead of enjoyment. What I did not realize, however, is that as I've experienced growth and developed my creativity, my choices in books has also evolved. I've started reading novels again. Crazy, I know. I even read, on a whim, Matthew McConahey's Greenlights, a drastic departure from anything I might have picked up in years past. 

I've read for pleasure in 2020 and plan to continue in 2021.