What if…
This is it! #52 for 2021. 52 weeks of writing, reading, wondering, observing, questioning, and sharing. Thank you for joining me on this adventure! I started this year in snowy Berlin and will end it in sunny Bali. In between, I traveled, celebrated, saw friends, made new friends, cried, drank prosecco, found some new gray hairs, slept, moved, laughed, swam a lot, read a lot, ate donuts (among many other things), started Belonging, discovered the world of Korean face sponges (Do you know about these? The best.) and wrote, once a week, to all of you!
Being the last love letter of 2021, I'm feeling pressure to say something absolutely magic. And there's so MUCH to say I don't know where to start. But as usual, I will start where I am.
As may be the case for you, it definitely wasn't the 2021 I imagined at the start of this year. There were some big disappointments I didn't see coming and there were some amazing surprises that I hadn't planned. Through all the ups and downs, one thing that remained constant were these weekly writings.
Back in 2020 (before the world started spinning a little too fast for my liking) I had set an intention to create better connections, to expand my community, to live a little bit outside of my insular Sicily life. As 2020 rolled into 2021, I continued dreaming but also started doing. My coaching practice was new and writing felt like a good way to open up. I didn’t know what writing each week would bring. I didn’t know if anyone would read. But I was willing to imagine something larger than just writing alone week by week.
And look what happened. I have you!
I may not have the magic to control the world around me, but there are choices that I can make to develop the world I dream of. Community, connection, writing, sharing, conversation. All of these things are important to me and all of those things are showing up more and more in my life.
How? I committed and I created. I started writing. Right here.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: change is hard. I hear people commit to not changing by saying that they are as they are, that they have tried and failed, that they can’t change (too old, too shy, too busy, too stuck). I’m also pretty sure there was some dead, white man who said “The only constant is change.” So whether we like it or not, the world is spinning, we are changing. (I could give you a statistic on shedding skin cells and how we biologically change in a matter of minutes but it’s kind of gross so you do the research and let me know, please.)
As you think about your commitment to the new year, I wonder:
How can we stay rooted in our dreams, our values, our visions as the world changes?
How can we commit to small practices in order to create big dreams?
What if our external world changes and we simply grow, evolve, strengthen who we are in this world and how we want to feel?
In 2022 I’m again setting my intention towards community and connection. You will still find me in your inbox every Tuesday (if you want! You can always unsubscribe below). I’m also going to be switching to a new newsletter platform and updating my website a bit (so check your spam in January if you don’t see me!). In alignment with my 2022 intentions I have some new offerings in addition to one-on-one coaching and community coaching that I will be launching in the new year. (Hint: what about some in-person community hangouts?! And maybe a little more personalized writing your way? Food for thought!)
As we leave 2021, I send you all a big hug of gratitude for supporting me here. The greatest gift you could give would be to share this newsletter, tell people about my coaching (I’m still looking for a couple of brave, curious, amazing women for January’s Belonging!) or just email me and say “Hi, I like you.”
I’m wishing you a 2022 filled with clarity, confidence, and inner calm: the clarity to dream big, the confidence to achieve what you want, and the inner calm to enjoy what you have. If you’d like to work together on this, just reach out. I’m here!
Sending sunshine, blue skies, peace, rest, joy, and all the goodness,
Henna