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As I commence the reflection discipline that is the end of the year, on Thanksgiving morning 2020, I find myself emotional. What else is new?
Yesterday, my sister-in-law Mallory shared a picture of my niece playing putting on mommy’s mask. In 7 weeks, she will be 2 and will likely be required to wear one in some public places. It blew my fucking mind away that a little human that has been in my life her entire life is growing up with this norm.
And that’s just one personal mask story. Far beyond a child’s tale, the entire world is full of examples of how deeply difficult this year has been for all of humankind. The entire world is connected by this one threat.
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It’s really no surprise that connection shows up as a theme with me. In fact, it always does. How do I want to feel? Connected. Independent and connected.
Lately I have been practicing witness consciousness, a concept I first learned in my yoga studies 10 years ago that has come back in full force in second half 2020 through my readings (Playing Big by Tara Mohr) and my work with my coach. This self-observation discipline is essential to the personal and professional growth I seek.
This morning, an important finding emerges: in a period of time when I have been alone more than any other in my life, I feel more connected and supported than ever before.
So I reflect (and prose, as I do). I am especially beholden to those who enable this feeling in me. You have all kinds of names: my people, my quaranteam, my care team, my collaborators, co-conspirators and co-creators, my ride or dies, my BFFs, my tribe, my gang, my crew, my posse, my entourage, my lulus, my Germans and my Canadians, my family, and my babe.
You know who you are.
Happy Thanksgiving. I am grateful for you. And I love you.
Namaste.
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Endnote – Other observations of thankfulness go to: my employer, Slalom (you are so good to me!), my health (and my healthcare), the luxury of time, the appreciation of simplicity and Lancôme Monsieur Big Mascara.
As Einstein said: “It’s all relative.” Most of us are quick to come up with things that we are totally pissed of with thanks to this Covid-driven twenty-twenty. However, relativity can go in many directions. Those above us, that are riding high in times of dispare (Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has multiplied his wad many times this year of lockdown shoppers), and those below us (families who have lost loved ones and/or jobs thanks to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemia.
It all depends if your glass is half-full or half-empty.
No matter how rich, how talented, or how attractive you are, there is always someone richer, more talented or more attractive. Our ceiling is always someone else’s floor. Our floor is also someone else’s ceiling. But this is true for 2019, 2000, even 1960, for those of us who were around way back then. So how can we stack up this tragic twenty-twenty compared to other years of our lives? Easy! Just call it a lost year! Right?
You’ve all been fighting depression all year. You’ve been following one of the nastiest ugliest presidential elections in US history, regardless of which side you’re on. You’ve seen hundreds of businesses close in your area and stay closed, giving way to all kinds if global take-over theories. That’s the half-empty glass side of society.
For those of us that prefer the half-full side if life, well, that’s all just noise in the system. Nuccio Bertone, one of the most daring innovators in the automobile design industry, believed that “a person with an objective in life knows no obstacles” I like to envisage this piece of wisdom as Christopher Columbus, crossing the Atlantic, fixing his sights on the horizon. He had his ships blown to the north and blown to the south, but he never lost sight of his goal. And he achieved exactly that goal! Notwithstanding all the setbacks and difficulties.
I consider this bizarre year of non-standard everything (money, friends, feelings, traveling, etc.) just one of Chris Colombo’s storms at sea. It invites us all to buckle down and increase our focus on ours life goals. On what is really important for each one of us. Caroline transformed her storm-at-sea into a paradox: more alone but more connected. This is because she set that as her horizon, her GPS. And it’s working.
I try to help friends and audiences remember that this “keep your eyes on the horizon” life formula works. But it also works for this who are convinced that they will barber achieve anything in life. That they will only find disasters. And guess what! They only find disasters! Because their horizon is fixed in their minds and they ignore all the opportunities that present themselves in their careers, in their private lives.
Mike Robinson. You blow my mind. 🙏🏼