My Word for This Year is Connection
Every year, I write a list of goals and aspirations. On that list are things I'd like to accomplish for my overall health and my business, as well as a handful of adventures I'd like to experience with my husband, Todd, and our daughter.
Like many of you, these past two years of pandemic restrictions have challenged specific goals, making them feel unrealistic by throwing wrenches into what otherwise felt like a well-thought-out plan.
On a side note, the expression "throwing wrenches" fits very well here. It's an expression that brings me back to my childhood, when I first learned it from our long-time family friends in Switzerland, from a connection lost many years ago.
That's why this year, instead of a list of goals (ok, I have some of those too), I've decided to focus on a single word, on an intention, and a feeling: that of connection.
Connection and reconnection will guide all of my decisions and actions this year. One of my goals is to prioritize quality over quantity in my relationships. I want to develop deeper connections with my close friends and family and reconnect with friends and colleagues I've fallen out of contact with over these past two years and beyond.
For me, a connection is also about slowing down and showing up. It's about expressing gratitude for all the support and inspiration my relationships have afforded me over the years and consciously giving back by freeing up my time and making myself more available to them.
I have never felt more physically disconnected from the people I care about most. It was almost two years before I saw my father again, and I no longer visited my relatives in Europe and Asia. I know that I'm not alone in this and that it will be some time before we can all travel more freely. But when that time comes, I will be ready.
So I'm curious: What does connection mean to you? Have you also been disconnected from your loved ones these last couple of years? And how do you stay connected, or do you intend to reconnect once it's safer to do so?