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And so it begins… A brand new year

By Sinem Bilen-Onabanjo
02 January 2021   |   1:54 am
Today is technically just another day, but it is laden with such a great burden of human expectations because that’s how we humans operate, putting so much weight on a day because of the number on the calendar.

Today is technically just another day, but it is laden with such a great burden of human expectations because that’s how we humans operate, putting so much weight on a day because of the number on the calendar.

For what has changed since midnight on 31 December but the date and that one digit at the end of 2021? Maybe we’d give life our best just if we treated any day for what it is: a brand new day full of new opportunities, regardless of the yesterday the sun set on. I wake up today, thankful for today and hopeful for new beginnings, come what may.

What a year 2020 has been – for some, a year to be thankful for life and good health, for others, a year of devastation and despair as lives, loved ones and livelihoods were lost. A friend’s Facebook post on 2020 opened with a Meister Eckhart quote “If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”

“The end of the year, especially one like 2020, is a good time to count our blessings and to channel the highest levels of gratitude. My prayer for myself and for all of us is that we intentionally walk each moment of the coming year and all our remaining days in gratitude,” she wrote in words equally as poignant.

These words prompted me to look back at the year I’ve had.
For me, it was a year where I kept honing the art of seizing the day and celebrating small wins, a skill I’ve found that comes easier after 40. And of small daily joys of life, there were many… When there weren’t, we went out and looked for rainbows and made new memories.

There were of course a few heartaches along the way, moments of uncertainty and sometimes frustrations but we kept looking forward, looking for silver linings in clouds and looking for solutions to road blocks. 2020 was the year of taking leaps of faith and keeping the faith. Of finding joy and gratitude in each day.

In 2021, I can only wish for more of the same: the peace of mind and grace of heart to see in every new day with joy and see it off with gratitude, the kindness of eyes to see(k) the joy in every day and the strength of spirit to endure those joyless moments we all have to endure every now and again. May 2021 be good to all of us.

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