Faith that things will work out. Faith in G-d and that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. Faith in life being more than okay.
Today, as I was meeting someone for lunch and thinking if faith was really the word I was sticking to this year, I saw this:
The sky in New York City was painted blue and I felt hopeful. I was standing in the middle of a less traveled path in Central Park, pointing my iPhone at the sky and running the risk of looking incredibly touristy because, to me, the sky was a sign. The beautiful sky made me think that my mom and grandma were looking down on me – it’s the first time in a while I thought of them both and bypassed feeling incredibly sad.
This year I want to look up more and figure out a way to believe that the future doesn’t have to be all that scary. The conversations I had today with friends about life, fear and faith, really helped me garner the strength to write my “1/1/2016” letter.
Yesterday, I read a letter I wrote to myself on 1/1/2014. On that date I sealed the letter in a pink envelope and had proceeded to forget everything that I had written in it. To be honest, I was dreading rereading it last night because I figured that I must’ve mentioned something about my grandmother in it and I wasn’t sure I wanted to relive those words.
But because the beginning of any year fills you with bravery, I read it. Then, I cried. In that letter there were a lot of moments I lived up to in 2014. There were also signs that I knew things were going to get worse with my grandma before they got better. Some things I dropped the ball on in 2014. The entire content of the letter made me feel exposed, it was also exactly what I needed to read.
Tonight I’ll be writing my 1/16 letter and filling it with dreams, realities and moments I want to live.
I’m a firm believer that letter writing, to yourself or to others, is a positive way to document growth. My only goal with my 1/16 letter is to see if at the end of the year I’m surprised with who I’ve managed to become.
Follow these steps if you want to write your own New Years letter:
(1) Pick your favorite stationary and envelope
(2) Write down what you want to achieve this year, who you want to be at the end of it, how you want to take any losses you’ve experienced and turn them into something else, how you want to grow, etc
(3) Put it in an envelope with the note: “To be opened 1/1/2016”
(4) Put it somewhere you’ll remember
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