Wrapping up 2020

Every new year, I sit down with friends and we collage. We cozy up in sweaters and blankets, holding tea and coffee, illuminated by the Christmas tree yet to be taken down. We huddle around a table for hours as we rifle through magazines and tear out pages, silent except for the music playing. It’s a tradition I will miss when January 1st hits for 2021, as the current climate continues to call for distancing. This has been a holiday season void of tradition for many.

As I reflect back on my collage from the beginning of this year, and the intention I set, it’s almost startling to see, knowing I had no idea how this year would have progressed. My intention was to “slow down.” It’s laughable, really. In some ways, the world really did stop. We were confined to our homes. We were stuck in the quicksand of fear and uncertainty. We watched the world shift and change in innumerable ways before our eyes, a sense of urgency accompanied by a sense of stuckness. And while this was not the slowing down I had anticipated, it is what we were given.

If there is one thing 2020 has taught me, it is flexibility. It has brought me the reminder that intentions can be carried with us but must be fluid. That even in a year where time felt disjointed and suspended, it was important to make the space for myself that I needed, even if it veered drastically from what I had initially envisioned. This year reminded me that slowing down is a practice, not a destination. And in a time of urgency and chaos, slowing down allowed me to show up for others.

Tomorrow, I will sit down at my table. I will pull out my magazines and create my intention for the upcoming years. I will collage with only the noise of the record player in the background, my dog’s feet pattering across the hardwood floors. I will take some space for reflection and honor the slowness I sought this past year. I invite you to find some space for stillness and intention, in whatever way feels right.