HAPPY NEW YEAR!
As we approached the end of one year and the start of another, some have said that 2022 sounds like “2020 also”. Read, “twenty-twenty-too”.
For those like myself who loves puns, I see the humour in that but also feel like it carries a lot of weight. We can joke about 2022 being a repeat of 2020 with words. However, when we look back and remember what many of us endured in 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact it had on us individually and as a community and world, I imagine none of us want a repeat!
As I contemplated how to capture this new year and new season, three words came to me in my sleep.
Strength. Connect. Learn.
Strength gained from experiences we have had from years past. Especially, since 2020 amidst a global pandemic that doesn’t seem to have an end to it.
Connect the experiential dots since all of it matters. New connections, new pathways, new opportunities, new lessons, new blessings amidst new challenges because of a pandemic.
Learn from yesterday’s choices and mistakes so you can grow forward into tomorrow. Or in this case, a new year.
Ask yourself, what didn’t work? What did work? What do you want to do differently? Where do you want to invest better? What matters most and why? Who or what gets in the way of you taking the leap and growing forward?
STRENGTH…
For me, 2021 was filled with great memories and some personal challenges that I learned to overcome.
A transition to a new country and learning to balance family relationships and friendships from a distance while adapting to our surrounding relationships has been quite the learning curve. While my work has taken a pause in many areas, I continue to run towards the goals set before me and run my race at my own pace.
On many occasions, my strength was challenged and to my surprise — and my husband’s — I pushed through. 2021 was filled with moments that strengthened my faith and my marriage and I am excited for this new year of adventures with Ken!
CONNECT…
Connectedness is my number one strength from the Clifton Strengths Test so it seems like everything has a connection for me. Relocating to my birth country is providing me with a lot of connections to my childhood – smells, sights, language, words. In fact, the other day I was talking with a friend about speaking and understanding Hindi and Marathi (local languages spoken here), and how different and challenging it can be to understand and not speak one over the other. As I clarified some words and phrases with her, I discovered that I use some Marathi words when I speak Hindi, thinking that they were Hindi words in the first place. We had a good laugh and I decided that from now on, I will say, “I speak Hindi, but I also speak Marathi, I just don’t know when!”
As a child, my parents would speak to us in Hindi, and we would respond in English. Since I was born in Pune, Maharashtra, where my mother’s family is from, she would speak Marathi to her relatives. As a result, I learned to understand that language but not speak it. I am thankful for the patience people are showing me here but completely understand if they are laughing inside…I am too!
Sadly, many relational connections were fractured or broken during the pandemic due to lockdowns, restrictions, being for or against vaccinations, politics, relocating and the list goes on. Perhaps some of those relationships weren’t as strong as we thought they were. Learning to watch for and enjoy connections in the small things has brought me great joy and peace in this journey, realizing that sometimes the small connections actually carry more significance.
LEARN…
I can’t express enough the importance to keep learning! Where are my fellow learners? Everyday is filled with something to learn if we are paying attention. Learn from your past so you can live differently in the future. Since this is the start of a new year, I guess we can say a part of our future has begun.
Learn from others, strangers, friends, neighbours, and children — yours or those in your story. Make this the year you learn a new skill, a new trade, a new job, a new language or about a different culture than yours (we can help get you started with our Understanding Culture Workshops. Although I am Indian, embracing all parts of the culture here has been a challenge. However, learning what works and doesn’t work here is allowing me to respond offensively and not get defensive when I experience something different than I would appreciate.
Be sure to learn from yourself and your story as well because your choices and mistakes are the best place to learn some lifelong lessons. Learning to live into our best selves is the best gift we can give to others.
Make 2022 the year you express your authentic self unapologetically; you won’t regret it. It might challenge some of your relationships, as it did in my story, so be sure to do it with grace, respect, patience, love, kindness, and a healthy dose of confidence. Not sure how to get there? Let’s connect and we can talk about how Transformational Coaching can equip and empower you for your journey.
Here’s to Growing Forward Together in 2022 by finding strength in the places we have felt weak, connecting in big and small ways, and learning how to live unapologetically authentic!
Blessings,
Kinita
