Well, here you are! Welcome, 2022! We’ve been expecting you! We have all wondered if you would actually arrive and if you did arrive if we would still be here to welcome you. You see, none of us is guaranteed tomorrow, so the fact that we are still here to welcome you (at least as of 9:00 pm Pacific Standard Time on 12/31/2021) is a bit of a surprise, and may I even say an unexpected miracle?
You see, we’ve endured an ongoing pandemic, racial unrest, political turmoil, devastating wildfires, and all manner of divisive, confusing, and disheartening news and events. Of course, there have been beautiful bright moments, too! We are all more grateful and savor those victorious successes and moments of beauty now even more than we did before 2020 attacked us! That’s a win!
What now? What about the turning of the calendar to 2022? Where are we going? What are we doing? What will be different? Anything? First off, be gentle with yourself. We are still and always will be in the midst of uncertain times. That’s not new or UNPRECEDENTED. (I now hate that word.) So…
Be kind to yourself. We were in the midst of uncertain times before the floor dropped out from under us two years ago. The issue is not that things are any more uncertain; it’s that we are now brutally aware of the fleeting uncertainty of life.
Be kind to others. I am convinced that some of the unsettling and may I say mean behavior we are seeing around us is due to the fact that people have not processed their pain. The past two years have brought all of us fear and uncertainty and I don’t think we have all stopped to process that fear and pain. We need to stop, look at the fear and pain, realize it’s there and that it affects us in different ways, and then do whatever we can to move forward, aware of our own limitations.
If you need to make New Years Resolutions, be reasonable. You’re not going to lose 25 pounds in January. You’re just not. As you look into the face of 2022, make it your goal to simply be kind to yourself and those around you.
Just be kind. If we all do that, then 2022 will be a vast improvement over 2021! Ya think?
Old Guy Lesson #5…Just be kind. To everyone. To children. To the folks in line at the grocery store. To the old guy next door.