2021 required much adaptation. Here's to a 2022 where that adaptation becomes acceptance, and that acceptance moves from the individual and echoes throughout a new and improved culture.
The Holiday Radio Show is far from the only holiday tradition that has been adapted for a second year running. Based on data gathered for this piece 75% of survey participants modified their traditions due to COVID-19 precautions last year—and interestingly, an equal percentage are doing so again this year. Their reasons are as personal as the traditions themselves, but they all align with one of the key reasons that the WPRB Holiday Marathon has weathered COVID-19 and lasted over three decades.
School supplies to food to holiday meals, caps and gowns and even prom dresses--those day-to-day things we may take for granted--can be beyond the reach of some families. Operation Joy fills that need and has done so for almost two decades. Plus, running and walking outside is good for body, soul, heart and mind. We've read that here for years.
This practice as a form of journaling has been shown to promote feelings of closure, reduce anxiety and prepare us for the next phase of our lives.
We lost lives, and that grieves me. We lost lifestyles, which hurts as well. But what remained and what grew in light of what science says we could have lost makes me grateful now and keeps my hope stoked for the future.
As my clients and I consider re-emerging, I’m beginning to notice a set of anxious, even grief-type thoughts and emotions are also rising. Out of necessity I now describe this set of thoughts and emotions as “re-emergence stress.”
2020, a year that no one expected, warrants closure. This one took many drafts and more thought than some, and may take more unpacking as well, but, in the end, for me, it fits. I truly encourage you, try it this time.
“If I were to skip one, this is not the one to skip. This is maybe the most important one,” Jon said, then shocked himself into silence. He came to grips with his answer in pauses. “I need to think about that for a while. Yeah, maybe this is the most important—I don’t want to set the bar to high, Jeez,” he said, smiling at himself.
If we choose to prioritize our interdependence with others and take CDC mandated steps, we validate our own independence.
Let's continue to fight Corona. Let's build a better normal not just a new one. A normal where every race, color, gender identity and nationality has justice and safety. A normal where family is not just a byproduct of adult work life, but a homestead which blossoms the crop of our career from its soil.
