22: Gratitude

Things have been moving so quickly that I have found so little time to sit and reflect. I long so much for stillness. With school, dance, friends, and that black hole called facebook, stillness has become so hard to come by.

Stillness, in a solitude that is not lonely.

Lately, it is something one must fight for. We are pressed on every side with technology, connectivity and so much meaningless busy-ness, it is a chore to sift through all the daily clutter. My mind flits back and forth thoughts. It takes so much energy to allow it to simply settle.

Yesterday I turned 22. I approach this new year in a state of gratitude, quite floored by a number of beautiful things that have happened not only in the past year as a whole, but even just in the past week alone (I may or may not expound in a future entry). Gratitude, I have decided, is going to be the theme of my new year. Too many people walk around with such a sense of entitlement, that it spoils the sweetness of the myriad of lovely gifts we receive each day, so many of which we haughtily overlook.

I want to strip down to a place where I am thankful, resolutely thankful. (This is going to take a LOT of work on the inside!)

I’ve learned many lessons in this past year, and hopefully I will have a chance to think all of them through. This year has gone nothing like I had planned, but along the way I have picked up so many delightful memories that I have no reason to complain about all the tangles.

Now, time to convince myself of my age. When people ask me how old I am, my gut always wants to answer, “Eighteen.” Even seventeen sometimes! But my head pauses to think and steps in to respond with my real age. How is it that I am twenty-two and now seriously in my early twenties? On a goofier note, here is a photo of me celebrating my birthday not long after midnight on Sunday. More fun pictures to follow!