The art of letting go

This sto­ry was first pub­lished in December, 2021.

I am so ready to leave this year behind.

It began with a funer­al for some­one I love dear­ly, and it is end­ing the same way. Two close fam­i­ly mem­bers from our already small clan, gone in 2021. Covid-19 didn’t take these loved ones from us, thank­ful­ly, but they were both ill — and very, very tired.

Life can be weary­ing; grief, exhaust­ing. Even if we haven’t expe­ri­enced the death of a rel­a­tive this year, we’ve all suf­fered loss­es. And yet, each morn­ing the sun ris­es, and so do we, hope­ful­ly. There is some­thing com­fort­ing in nature’s indif­fer­ence — how the world keeps turn­ing no mat­ter what we’re going through personally.

One thing I’m notic­ing late­ly is that with every loss comes a gain of sorts. A hole in the heart is, after all, an open­ing. The impulse to fill it with some­thing — any­thing — is strong. But maybe, if we can resist that urge, we’ll find our hearts aren’t as frag­ile as we thought, that the void is actu­al­ly a portal.

As stat­ed in my very first arti­cle for WinCity News & Views, I am a strong believ­er in cre­ation. I promised to share what I’m mak­ing with the hope that it will inspire and moti­vate you to make some­thing, too.

So today I’m mak­ing an effort — an attempt to let 2021 fall away gen­tly rather than to shove it angri­ly aside as the year from bloody hell.

Because it’s not. Even though it some­times feels that way.

2021 has actu­al­ly been just anoth­er year filled with sor­rows, joys, and every­thing in between — like the years before it — and like the years, no doubt, to come. Some of us have mere­ly sur­vived it, while oth­ers have actu­al­ly thrived. But we’ve all done so with our own bro­ken hearts full of holes, because that’s what hap­pens when you live and love in this world.

So let’s make some­thing else now: a pact for the future. As we hur­tle through space and time toward 2022, let’s strive to cre­ate lives based on hope and resilience, lives that hon­or the diver­si­ty of expe­ri­ence that makes up our mirac­u­lous existence.

Throughout the world, New Year’s Eve is the offi­cial por­tal through which we let go of the past and move for­ward into a brand new year. I am more than ready to step into that void. I hope you are, too.

Happy New Year.