What’s next for me?

Mystery of seasons

shows edge of winter waking;

another turning.

 

Before its return

rising sun pauses unseen;

as Life asks for more.

 

A new year begs a plan.

What’s next? it asks. What’s new, different, or ahead that’s waiting for me?

 

Grief says, Hold on! Not so fast.

 

The optimist in me bows to the pessimism of me so often! I get it. We have evidence to the contrary. Still, the seasons are a wonderful container for the unknown future before us.

Growth is not always visible; it often occurs in the stillness of “hidden healing” where energy is gathered for the next phase. -Anonymous

 

Looking back at New Years past, I’ve been inclined to make resolutions. Or to welcome something new into my life. The argument with grief is the part of us that is inclined to shut down and say, “no more new for me…I want to go back in time.”

“The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not ‘get over’ the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered.” — Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

 

The good news is that the timing of integration is our own; personal and evolving.

 

In the meantime, what of the living?

We’re still alive.

So what does this year hold out to us?

 

Maybe I will:

• learn another language
• build a cinderblock wall
• reinvent my self employment
• climb a mountain
• make new friends
• catch up with lost relationships
• change my name
• dive in more deeply with friends and family
• dream a new dream
• take singing lessons
• learn to dance
• play a fiddle, guitar, or djembe drum
• dance spontaneously at the street fair
• wear something out of my style box
• put on sun glasses and pretend to be incognito
• celebrate my strength in and of myself with a solo movie, or whale watching trip, or long library visit

 

Life shouts, “Happy New Year!”

 

We can say “Bah Humbug!” or “Not yet!”

. . . or we can place one-tiny-toe into a possibility that will be our secret alone.

 

In the end, the Irish remind us that our memories can inform us since they are ours alone.

“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.” – Irish Headstone

 

What’s one small way to celebrate the amazingness of you in 2026?

You get to choose. Like the sun in winter, you may pause. Or like a sunrise you may surprise yourself on certain days. There’s no right way or wrong way to transition.

Let’s keep going along the healing path together.