"Growth is a painful process."
- Wilma Mankiller
OMG, guys, it's totally New Year's Eve! Hallelujah! My first reaction to learning that this year would soon be coming to an end was complete and utter relief. Good riddance 2010, so long and thanks for all the fish! But why was this year so universally awful? Well, as it happens, it was not really so terrible for everyone, and for some it was probably even the best year of their lives thus far. I've seen my little brother get married, get a great job and buy a new condo, I've seen friends bring babies into the world and go back to school. Heck, I guess even I quit a job that was making me miserable. Yet, overall, nobody seems that sorry to see 2010 go. I've been trying to make sense of this discrepancy, and based on many observations and conversations I've had with friends and family, it has become pretty clear that 2010 was indeed a fairly tumultuous year. For some, it just. plain. sucked. For others, it was simply amazing. But the common denominator in every single experience was, for better or worse, Change. Yeah, capital-C Change. And that's never easy. Even when it brings better things, the adjustment that is required of us can be painful, to say the least. Some of us are more resistant to transformation than others, and that, obviously, makes the transition all the more difficult. The biggest lesson I learned this year is how to let go, to see uncertainty and upheaval as opportunities, rather than tragedies. And that Change and Growth are one and the same.
So, yeah, I'm happy to see 2010 go, but I'm also grateful for all that it brought, and, most importantly, looking forward to what 2011 will have to offer.
