2021: I will not start anew

Starting anew 

Will not do

Because in my life

There are remnants of you

Memories, lessons, the smell of your perfume

And left in my heart

This space filled with gloom

Every tear drop a seed

Guiding me to bloom

And so I will not start anew

I will not wipe it clean

I will let it play out like my favorite movie scenes 

Every single thing has brought me here

The ones who have left me

And the ones who are near 

I will not start anew

Because I will not start over again

The rain and the rainbows

Have both become my friend

So I will keep all the pages from every notebook

And when I’m lost I will get to take another look

At how it all shaped me

Into this version of myself

Whose heart is deep like the roots of tall trees

Because I kept it in my memory

I will never forget the person I’m meant to be

If I started anew I’d have to learn it again

To make sure that doesn’t happen

I’ll start this year with paper and a pen

I’ll keep a record

I will not start anew

All of my life will be 

To be continued... 

We put a lot of pressure on and give a lot of attention to “starting over” and “back to normal” and I think it’s important to sit with the beauty of how every part of our experience moves us into the next and how there is magic in the moments that brought us here. So I don’t want to start this year off “new.” I want to be transformed daily by what this last year has taught me and honor the punches and the peace by remembering it all and bringing it with me, not as heavy baggage, but as a delicately stitched fabric in the blanket of my existence that brings something unique and unforgettable to the world, or at least my world. Happy New Year! There is an excitement to this day that doesn’t change our experience in a moment, but it can spark the creativity and imagination necessary in cultivating the abundant life and love we all crave. Lean into that. Lean into this moment. Lean into it all.