Welcome to our kickoff issue of The Pause in 2022. Come on in and make yourself comfortable.
Well, y’all. Here we are. Halfway through January, and what a year it’s already been. My husband and I kicked off 2022 by somehow both getting covered in dog poop before noon on January 1st.
How is that even possible?
Well, it’s a bit of a story, but I can tell you that it felt equivalent to this:
After the initial disbelief and subsequent laughing fits, we spent the remainder of New Year’s Day trying to make meaning of it. Was it a sign of our year to come? Was it a twisted gift given to us right off the bat so we could skip the This is the year life is going to go exactly the way we planned! mentality? I suppose we’ll know when we know, but, good God, what an entry into 2022.
In light of the hilarity of this event, I thought we’d kick off this year’s first issue with a focus on acceptance (especially of those life circumstances we aren’t so fond of).
Settle in, take a deep breath, and get ready to pause in 3...2...1...
🍋 When Life Gives You Lemons
You know those weeks where you can feel yourself being a Negative Nancy? Those weeks where it feels like Life is out here testing you, so you do the thing where you keep saying you’re fine, it’s fine, life’s fine, EVERYTHING IS FINE through clenched teeth?
That was me this past week.
Long story short: I was exhausted and upset about having to adapt my plans for the week to accommodate covid…again.
Instead of the week of working out, celebrating my best friend’s birthday, peacefully packing everyone’s stuff for a family trip, catching up on household chores, and resting for a moment that I had planned, I was met with a covid exposure notification from my daughter’s daycare at 8 pm on Sunday night.
Daycare was closing.
We needed to enter a 5-day quarantine, 6-days before leaving for Maui.
…shit.
Throughout this past week, I mostly ebbed and occasionally flowed. I couldn’t understand why Life couldn’t just throw me a freakin’ bone here, and leave me alone to enjoy my week as planned. I was throwing the Met Gala of pity parties, and while my frustration and sadness were initially valid, after a certain point they stopped being productive and started interfering with my ability to accept what I’d been dealt and move on.
Instead of choosing to make lemonade out of the lemons that life gave me, I chose to criticize the lemons for an entire week for not being the delicious, juicy pineapple I originally asked for.
Ridiculous when put that way? Absolutely.
And yet, there I was. All last week. Yelling at my lemons.
We’re all guilty of criticizing the figurative lemons of our lives sometimes, right? Instead of simply accepting what is and making the best of it, we argue with reality — thinking that, if we just yell about it long enough, we’ll somehow be able to negotiate a different set of circumstances into existence — and ultimately keep ourselves from peace.
No matter how many times I’ve learned it, the power of accepting what is continues to be a lesson that humbles me. No matter how many times I’ve tried to win an argument with reality, I lose every time.
So, for today, I thought we’d pause and take a moment to consider if there are any lemons in our lives that we’re ready to stop arguing with. Instead of investing our precious time in yelling about what should have been or what should be, let’s give ourselves a moment to consider accepting what is and what could be.
⏸ Pause & Reconnect
**Have some fun. There are no right or wrong answers; just what’s true for you.**
Are there lemons in your life you’re ready to stop arguing with? What are they?
How might accepting those lemons exactly as they are help you?
How can you take those lemons and make them into lemonade?
Make it a beautiful week, filled with loads of lemonade, dear friend.
As for me.. Quarantine is officially over in the Liu house, and we made it through covid-free. Catch me on the beach sippin’ a Mai Tai. 🍹
Until we meet again. 🖤
- L