Originally shared on 29 December 2017 via TinyLetter.
Hey everyone!
Thank you for sharing your unpredicted phrases and words! I loved seeing all the creative ways that language can be recombined to understand and express our beautiful, true and evolving selves.
Thank you, too, for supporting my (and your) vulnerability with your words. I’m grateful to all of you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Also, Happy New Year! At some arbitrary time this Sunday, the year will change numbers and on Monday I’ll eat black eyed peas, collard greens, cornbread and ham to celebrate and bring in luck for 2018 — my dad calls every year to make sure that I have a good recipe.
I was originally planning to spend the transition from 2017 to 2018 at a dance retreat because dance, for me, is a way to connect and heal and be funky and have fun. But, I couldn’t fit it in so I’m unpredicting my own, personal new years retreat this weekend – a couple of longer mountain bike rides, extra yoga, a Skype dinner date with a friend, IRL cooking with friends, re-watch Jurassic Park (because Laura Dern!) and permission to do many things I enjoy even if nothing is particularly epic.
Even though I felt bummed to cancel my self-care dance retreat, it forced me to take a step back from focusing on THIS event and THIS deadline and THE CLOCK WILL STRIKE MIDNIGHT and where will I be and what awesome thing will I be doing?
Because the awesome thing that I will be doing is preparing for the next day after midnight, to wake up with the sun, drink coffee and go on a bike ride, embracing my own rhythms and pace — giving myself time and space to treasure those complex phrases that I named for myself last week. On Monday, I’ll still eat black eyed peas, but just feel a bit freer from the constraints of tying celebration to a numbered minute and day.
After all the new year will happen again on February 16th in the Chinese calendar. And again on September 10th in the Jewish calendar, and again next year on January 1st, 2019. And on all the days that we create personal new beginnings for ourselves in between all these big named dates, too.
You’ll find me dancing in innumerable and unpredicted ways all year round. Hope you can join me, whichever day it is!
with love and spirit,
Mo