Marking the Year
January 4, 2024
Wow, what a year.
The longer I’m on this earth, the more I’ve come to think that there’s something in the air. Always. Some particular energy, some essence of the moment calling for our attention.
How many times do we sense parallel experiences happening in our lives and the lives of those around us? I sensed so much of that this year. At book clubs. In conversations with friends. In the words shared by my fellow creatives online. There were so many times this year that I thought, “My, we are all going through some pretty tough stuff.” I’m convinced there was something in the air in 2023. A collective reckoning, if you will.
Just a few days ago, an artist I admire shared on Instagram: “This has been the hardest year of my life.” And my first thought was, that tracks. Me, too, in a lot of ways.
Still another artist friend of mine, this morning: “I’ve been going through some heavy life changes.” And still another artist I know, yesterday: “I’ve taken a step back from my business this year to focus on other things.” Not to mention the dozens of artists and friends I know personally who have experienced immense pain, loss, and challenge this year.
And to be clear—it’s not that I think artists are particularly unique in this sense. I’m willing to bet that most of us have felt this in 2023. It’s just that artists tend to express it. Our art reflects the rollercoaster of emotions that we experience in our everyday lives, and part of our calling is to share that rollercoaster with others. So while most of you non-artists may be keeping this hardship and pain to yourselves, us artists are expressing it, unapologetically.
We’re letting you know that this year has been a reckoning for us, in hopes that maybe you’ll feel less alone and maybe you’ll be able to make peace with the reckoning you’ve been through, too.
I saw something the other day that said 2023 was a “7” year (2+0+2+3). It’s the “seeker”—all about finding deep meaning in our lives, sitting in our shadows, and searching for our truth. A year of learning and discovering ourselves.
Personally, I feel this. When I look back on 2023, what I see is a girl who cried and carried and moved through so much. I see a girl who confronted her shadows and became stronger—a girl who became more of herself, and a girl who doesn’t look the same this January as she did last January.
And what I want to know is—how do we mark it? How do we mark a year that was so fundamentally transformative? How do we mark a year that gave us so much, through the hardship? How we mark a year that showed us what we’re made of?
I am so grateful to be an artist, because I can see how the paintings I made this year reflect so much of the challenge I endured and all the lessons I learned. What a gift it is to have physical and beautiful markers like this to remind me of it all.
There are so many ways that you can mark your year, too. Maybe take some time to write yourself a little love note thanking yourself and telling yourself how proud you are of everything you overcame this year. Maybe think back on a transformative moment from the year and take a minute to encapsulate those lessons. Maybe collect an expressive piece of art that embodies how you felt, grew, or transformed this year.
However you mark it, I hope you see the power and truth of what this year was—a opportunity for growth. When we’re in it, the pain can feel unbearable. (Trust me, I know.) But on the other side, I hope we can see the necessity of it. I hope we can see how the pain was required for our growth. How life is always going to throw something at us. How even in the dark, there is light. How there is both a beginning and end in these hard moments, and how we can always decide, today, to surrender and breathe through and rise in spite of it. How you’re always braver than you think.
2024 is an 8 year. It’s an accelerator and a generator. It represents abundance, infinity, energy, momentum, and results. It’s a year that asks us to step into our power, take action on our dreams, and unlock our personal power.
How fitting—a year of acceleration after a year of inner transformation.
May 2024 unlock it all for you!