01/01/2022
After the abyss of 2020 and the longer trauma of 2021, I can honestly look at my brand new 2022 calendar and say, âI donât want to go.â How do we make it across the threshold into a year that is dragging the baggage of its predecessors in one hand and promising nothing with the other? With a cup of tea.
By Kellie Schorr
I looked forward to going to my friendâs house for dinner.
I said yes, found a time that worked for us, and responded with a hearty âcanât wait to see you!â I said it. I meant it. I put a star on my calendar and picked my clothes. Everything was ready, steady and happy untilâŚthat morning.
âI have so much to do.â
âThis isnât a good day.â
âMaybe sheâs busy too. Maybe sheâll cancel.â
âI could tell her Iâm a little tired.â
âMaybe the dog ate something she shouldnât, and I should stay home to watch her.â
Dragging around like itâs the day I need to turn myself in to start a hard-labor prison sentence, whining and moaning, I check my phone repeatedly praying for an amazing, âSorry, something came upâ textâthe perfect âget out of jail freeâ card. Cathy hands me the car keys and motions toward the door.
âI donât want to go,â I mumble.
I know what sheâs going to say. Itâs what she always says.
âYouâll be fine once you get there.â
AndâŚsheâs right.
By the time the initial hugs are done, and smiles are exchanged, I sink into happiness like a warm bath, listening to stories, eating, laughing and loving the people Iâm with. I know myself well enough to realize this isnât a unique occurrence; itâs a pattern. Right now, Iâm not just feeling it when It comes to visiting my friends; Iâm experiencing it about a whole year.
After the abyss of 2020 and the longer trauma of 2021, I can honestly look at my brand new 2022 calendar and say, âI donât want to go.â
How do we make it across the threshold into a year that is dragging the baggage of its predecessors in one hand and promising nothing with the other? With a cup of tea.
Tea with 2022
âTea with demonsâ or âfeeding your demonsâ is a well-known Buddhist strategy for dealing with the things in our life that trouble us beyond our ability to control them. Instead of fighting or avoiding your torments, sit down with them and cooperate, communicate, open up and learn from them. Once you have a better understanding of who or what youâre dealing with, a path forward will often emerge.
This year instead of bravado (âThis is gonna be my year!â), delusion (âItâs gotta be better than the last one, right? Thatâs how years work.â) or derision (âBatten down the hatches, another sucky trip around the sun awaits.â) take some time to sit down with a nice cup of tea (or coffee or water or wineâwhatever works) and invite 2022 to the table.
You can write it out, talk aloud or stare off into the horizon and project your thoughts silently. Envision 2022 with its 12-month expanse clumsily sitting down beside you. Let your mind open and make space for a conversation.
~ By Kellie Schorr
I donât know what 2022 is going to bring and it is a strange comfort to realize that it doesnât either.