Grateful
Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub;
It is the center hole that makes it useful.
Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows for a room;
It is the holes which make it useful.
Therefore profit comes from what is there;
Usefulness from what is not there.
Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu - chapter 11
For me, like many, this time of year is about reflection of the current year and contemplation of the next. None of us were thinking we’d all be in a grand time-out for most of 2020 and a good deal of 2021 as we make our way through the ugly phase of the pandemic and hopefully are getting vaccinated next year and able to get back to “normal”. As I think about this year though there are many things I don’t want to get back to.
I’m grateful for less driving for work, shopping, going out eating out, unnecessary in person meetings, unnecessary in person training events and so much more.
I’m grateful for the money I have saved from going out to eat less and from cooking more and in the process rediscovering my love for cooking. I’m grateful for the time I’ve had at home to think, ponder, journal, reflect, work on projects, clean up storage areas and closets, organize things, fix things, paint things, clean things, and give things away to open space in my home, remove clutter and hopefully help others. I have filled my pickup truck up 5 times with stuff I’ve hauled way from my home and office. Less stuff means I have more workbench to use. Less stuff in my closet means I can not only SEE my closet floors but I can clean them! Less stuff in my kitchen cabinets, fridge and freezer means I know what is in them and use them. I use more and waste less.
We never ask for hard times, but they are part of life just as winter is a season of each year. I’ve learned to do my best to get what I can from each season. This season has taught me there were things and activities in my life that didn’t serve and I’m happy for this. I know there has been so much tragedy this year and my heart is sad for my Uncle who is gone that I didn’t get see because of Covid. I’m sad for friends who have lost loved ones and anyone who is suffering for loss this year. This all sucks, I’m just trying to reflect on what I want to keep as we look forward to an end to this winter so that we go into the next a bit wiser and stronger.
It is winter, but spring is coming and well have a chance to permanently restructure parts and pieces of our lives. To create our own personal Renaissances and maybe, maybe, maybe a new collective one will follow.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Photo by Gif Frame on Unsplash