What Buckles our Knees Clarifies our Lives
This is an excerpt from a blog that was originally published in 2021, when the world was braced and bound by the pandemic. Reading it now, I realize it was the early stirrings of Radical AWEpreciation™.
2020 was a remarkable year.
It was the year my toes felt more sand between them than any other time in my adult life.
It was the year my circle of friendships grew deeper and wider.
2020 was the year my children and I bonded in a more mature way, testament to their continued growth into the beautiful souls they are. While they’re still teens, I’m glimpsing the gift of friendship that awaits us as they move into adulthood.
2020 was the year I commuted less and travelled more.
2020 was the year I wore less makeup, saw more sunsets, and took more deep breaths and naps outside.
I realize it’s been a challenging year for many. Close friends have gotten sick with Covid, and we haven’t seen family members in almost a year. Across the world, people have suffered and struggled in immeasurable ways, losing loved ones and livelihoods. Nurses and doctors worked to their bones while mothers, fathers, and children lay dying without a chance for a final goodbye with their families.
There’s no way to mince words with this level of trauma. There are no words soft enough to comfort or ease the individual hurts, invisible setbacks, and collective traumas.
So, when I say this was a remarkable year, it’s not to minimize anyone’s suffering.
I want to start the new year with appreciation for the clarity that came from the worst and best year in this lifetime.
I want to put into the world the kind of thoughts and energies that lift others up. I want to set an example to my children of what it means to persevere and have patience and fortitude.
If there’s anything 2020 has taught me, this much I know: Covid-19 demanded that the world as we knew it take a pause. It interrupted our prior way of normal and forced us to reconsider how we want to live as neighbors, lovers, and leaders. We are called to move the needle in our values, choices, and actions. We can enter this new year resistant and afraid, or with an expansive understanding of what matters more in life.
What do I want my children to take away from this time in their lives?
“I want to start the new year with appreciation for the clarity that came from the worst and best year in this lifetime.”
Shop less, smile more.
Gossip less, love more.
Judge less, trust more.
Dance to music and march to causes that make this world a better place.
Ease someone else’s loneliness. Pay a kind word forward to a stranger.
Learn to smile with your eyes when your mouth is covered by a mask.
2020 heaved our lungs and buckled our knees. It was a remarkable year, one I appreciate for the clarity it brought about what matters, as a woman, mother, friend, and lover.
What buckles our knees also leaves imprints on our bodies, hearts and minds.
Fear does. Grief does. Isolation does.
And so does awe. So does laughter. Friendship. Sunlight. Music. Deep breaths. Long conversations. Bare feet in sand. Feeling seen. Feeling safe. Feeling alive again.
To quote one of my favorite books, the body keeps the score. So, let’s fill it with moments of AWEpreciation. And maybe healing begins when we finally start paying attention to what our bodies have been trying to tell us all along.
