Attraversiamo. It is an Italian word which means “let’s cross over”. The first time I encountered this beautiful word was while I was reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat Pray Love”. At the end of the book, Liz decided that her word was Attraversiamo after a satisfying journey of learning to let go, love herself again and start anew.
I am borrowing Liz Gilbert’s word and using it in my column today as we all are crossing over to a new year. And as a year comes to a close, we are filled with excitement to start a new chapter, a clean slate. Some people, I would say, cannot wait any longer to close the door to 2022 because of not-so good experiences they’ve had that they it to be 2023 in the blink of an eye.
“We think too much and feel too little”, said Charlie Chaplin. People tend to think too much about what lies ahead and forget to absorb those good and bad moments that made them who they are today.
For me, the final week of 2022 is a time for reflection. The few remaining days are opportunities to reflect on every experience and every moment (good and bad) which brought us lessons.
It is time to ponder the year that was. It is going to be a bit nostalgic while rewinding to successes, failures and struggles that we have endured but it will help use be ready for the surprises of the coming year.
Reflecting, planning and making way for improvements are all necessary steps to make the new year even better than the previous one. In my case, committing valuable reflections to paper make it easy to revisit my memories, achievements and failures in the future. Even if I do not want to look at them again, research says documenting these things helps drill them in.
Whenever I feel discouraged or lack motivation, I would take a piece of paper and write down all the provisions I have received. If you haven’t tried doing this, I recommend you do, because as you continue to write, you will realize that you have a lot of reasons to be grateful.
If you are new in the art of reflection, I am sharing with you what I have read in a self-development blog that suggests that we can ponder on the passing year by making a list with three headings. When “tending the garden of life”, Alice Coleman suggests we take note of flowers or what we love, weeds or those that we want to leave out and fertilizer, those that we can add or improve in our lives.
I know that you have experienced craving for the advice of another human but you decide not to ask for various reasons. You can try writing a letter to your children or a relative that can benefit from your insights, the lessons you have learned, how you found success or happiness in life and even the little things they might be likely to overlook or take for granted. But you are not sure who you would write to, you can actually write to your future self and put it away for another day to read over.
Also, part of preparing ourselves for a clean start, we let go of things that bother us. Let go of what is not working for you. Letting go is vital to create space for new experiences. Shed excess baggage.
You can write all the things you want to let go of on a piece of paper, accept it bothers you but that you can’t change it. Safely destroy that list. You need to free yourself from the burden of resentment. Otherwise, you will continue focusing your energy outward which will make you tired and irritable. Instead, do the things that you love more and always remind yourself that wherever your attention goes, your energy flows. This one is a note to self: let go of people and situations that drain you.
Once you have taken a moment to reflect, then you’re ready to close the door to 2022 and say, Attraversiamo! Let’s cross over to 2023!*
