What did the Rabbit say to the Tiger: its ok if you missed reflecting on 2022 changing to 2023 – new years differ in every culture (western and Chinese in this case) so its fair to reflect on either (or both). I am writing this at the end of the Chinese year festivities but reminiscing about the Western year end celebrations, so I am doing both I guess.
2022 or
year of the Tiger (also my Chinese zodiac coincidentally) was a year which made
me both sanguine and wary about the human condition.
It was a
year I completed a record number of interviews, got a record number of offers
and then ended up without any job at all for 1.5 months (all records are judged
against my own previous ones). It was
therefore a year where I realized I am much more than my job and my career and
the vagaries of any employer.
It was a
year where some friendships and relationships seemed fuller and more enriching
than ever while others dulled maybe never to flower again. It was also the year I realized that the
deepest wounds can hurt less if the balm of love and family can be applied at
the right time.
It was a
year where I finished reading Sapiens and Conscious Parent and internalized both
within my parenting and in life only to wonder where the parent ends and the child
begins.
It was a
year when travel came back in full force and the term ‘revenge travel’ was born
after COVID mostly retreated. But for
once I didn’t feel any FOMO. Travelling
less, travelling well and travelling with the right people became paramount and
the most enjoyable.
It was a
year where inner richness was the focus by concentrating on meditation and
breath-work so that even when the outer world seemed uncontrollable (and it is,
always uncontrollable) I could begin to control my anxiety and inner world more
efficiently.
Finally, it
was a year where I realized that happiness comes from everything when my mind
is in the “right” place (right brain- relationship oriented while left brain-
task oriented) but no one dictates whether, why or when I can be happy. Only I hold that power, truly.
1st
of January 2023 was exactly that sort of irreconcilably happy day with some of
the best people in my life. 2023 and Year
of the Tiger both look good to me right now.
