On Christmas Eve, it snowed. An unlikely story here in East Tennessee, we received almost four inches of perfect powder that afternoon. Little did I know that snowfall would be the cause of a lot of pain and angst over the succeeding seven days, but in the moment it was pure, naive bliss.
Those big snowflakes are so awesome to watch – almost countable as they sink slowly toward the ground, at which point we all watch even more closely to ensure a good stick. What’s the point if it doesn’t stick around, right? So as we watch, the ground becomes colder, the flakes fall faster, the grass begins to disappear behind an ever-increasing opacity of whiteness, and a brief step away from the window is rewarded with the same phenomenon that happens when watching a flower bloom – suddenly a thick blanket of white lays covers a now contiguous landscape of purity.
I find the anticipation of a forecasted snowfall to be underwhelming, as meteorologists are often overzealous in their predictions… but once it actually begins before my very eyes, my attitude changes.
“Wow! Look at it. How beautiful and unblemished and pure.”
This is also how I thought 2021 looked once the clock struck Twelve on the 31st.
“Wow! A new year. Full of opportunity, unblemished and pure.”
This isn’t entirely untrue, as we still have 51 weeks left to explore, but many of the attitudes I’ve witnessed in these few days seem to have forgotten that we are still a day ahead of yesterday. The progress we made in 2020 was not meaningless or revoked just because we are still facing new trials in this calendar. As the stock exchange shows us year after year, we are always moving up and forward. If my up and forward is one small step away from a bad habit I’ve chosen to leave behind, that is noteworthy. If you made a stride toward being more woke and using your voice to support your fellow humans, don’t discredit that because other things aren’t yet how you expected.
This year, 2021, is new. We are creatures of habit and the tradition of a new January for some reason gives many folks the idea that a complete 180 from our old vices is necessary in the first week, or else the year is poisoned. The gift of a new season is that we have the choice to stay where we are, which is okay depending on your level of functioning after 2020, or pursue and embrace newness. The pure, unblemished opportunities for growth ahead. Will the snow be any less beautiful if we don’t go out and play in it? No. But will the joy you received from watching it through a window be abundantly higher if you strap on those boots and go out and feel the fresh flakes falling on your face? I believe so.
“But what if someone throws a snowball at my face?”
Honey. Throw one right the hell back.
So here’s my ode to a new January – for myself and any others who are feeling discouraged by unknown hurdles awaiting us in the new year – at the end of every obstacle course is a finish line. Mine is graduation from nursing school – the absolute end of 2021 to which my eyes are laser-focused. All of my goals from now until then are simply attempts to build me into a better me. One that is more fit, stronger, more confident, and willing to take a step into the unsullied carpet of snow to discover a deeper level of jubilance.
Thanks for reading, cheers to your new season!
The Peregrine Traveler 