January 2021 Update

Someone recently told me that new year’s resolutions don’t work.

From my own experienced, I’m inclined to agree.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that while a resolution may not last, a theme has some staying power. I decided to give 2021 the theme of mindfulness. Did I start on the first of January? No. Ironically, I had to give it some thought first.

I got started on the 6th. It was a Wednesday. The first Wednesday my kids were back at swim lessons in over a month. As my kids jumped in the pool, I jumped on the complimentary WiFi to find the capital in Washington D.C. had been breached by domestic terrorists. They built a gallows. They called for the hanging of the vice president. They carried who knows what kind of weaponry and zip-tie handcuffs. The insurgents were not there to take peaceful action.

What. The actual. Hell.

Quick thinking and more than a little luck were the only things that kept elected representatives from being taken hostage or worse. And people did die. Including a police officer.

Being mindful I had no choice but to pay attention to the chaos and what came later while not eating my feelings. There was some consuming of feelings, but these were thought out and carefully considered first, which went against instinct, but that was kind of the point.

Cut to two weeks later. We have a new President and the first female vice president in history.

And we have a delightful new voice, a former National Youth Poet Laureate: Amanda Gorman. Her words delighted and highlighted the America we live in now and where we need to go. What we need to do.

There will be a lot to be mindful of as we move forward.