Epiphany
I’m writing this on Sunday, the 12th Day of Christmas! Tonight is Twelfth Night, and tomorrow (Monday) is Epiphany. Did you know it’s bad luck to leave your Christmas decorations up past Epiphany? I guess I’ll be testing that out, because while I’m working on it, I won’t have them all put away. Let’s just tempt fate and see what happens! On this 12th Day of Christmas, I’m going into a deeper dive on my word of 2025, “Engage.” When I did a review of 2024, I realized that so many of the highlights of my year were things I initially didn’t want to do, but made myself do anyway. For example… At the beginning of the high school football season, I really didn’t feel like going to the games, especially since the first two were on Thursday nights. But I convinced myself to go, and ended up really enjoying them. As the season went on, I started to look forward to every game, and was sad on the weeks where the team was away. Well- our team went on to win the State Championship this year. It would have been exciting no matter what (since my daughter is in the band) but the fact that I had been at every single home game really elevated the experience for me. It wasn’t just getting myself off the couch to go places that made the year special- it even played out in my choice of books. It’s hard for me to commit to a really long book, but this year I read Stephen King’s 11/22/63, and the three books in Ken Follett’s The Century Trilogy. All these books were around 1000 pages, and I absolutely LOVED them. They were the reading highlights of my year. I realize these examples sound pretty tame. I mean, there are people hiking in New Zealand, visiting Antarctica, taking horseback riding lessons and learning to surf. And my version of “engaging” with the world is to read longer books and go to high school football games? Well… yes. But I also want to be aware of all the times I don’t want to do something, reexamine that, and push myself to do it anyway. My other way of engaging this year will be to immerse myself more fully in the things I’m doing. This idea came about one day at work. It was the beginning of the day, I was tired, had a headache, and had a full day of clients ahead of me. I thought “Well, the only way through is through” and began the day. As I was working, I started to really think about that phrase. Sometimes I’ll think I’m going through something, while really trying to go around it. Like, I’ll go through the motions but won’t be putting my full attention on it. As I started every massage that day, I repeated “the only way through is through” and thought about what “through” really means; in other words, to go right through the middle of it, fully immersed and focused. It turns out, doing it that way produces a much more pleasurable experience for everyone involved. So… “Engage.” Engage with the world, with the people and experiences around me, and also engage more fully in my activities and work. Put my full attention on the things I’m doing and go right through the middle of them. Do you see yourself as an adventurous person? – I’m MUCH too happy at home, reading with a cat snuggled on my lap. Top photo by Rob Wicks on Unsplash