Here’s to 2024!
I’d like to send a Happy New Year Wish to one and all in the Divorce Recovery Community. I hope you have an amazing, fulfilling 2024, complete with acceptance for all that these days have in store for you. It’s a guarantee that there will be happy times and sad ones as well, as we go through the weeks and months of 2024. There will certainly be ups and downs, challenges and joys, peace and worry, stress, and calm. When we learn to recognize and accept the inevitable ups and downs of life, we can begin to lean into a more peaceful, contented year.
I think it’s important for the DRC’s first Weekly Dose of 2024, that I relay some concepts gathered from an insightful, thoughtful piece written by Donna Ashworth. (Donna Ashworth’s Facebook page, originally written December 27, 2022)
In her post, Donna asks why we start our New Year with a call for improvement? Why not accept ourselves as we are, where we are, at this time? She goes on to say that we should be congratulating ourselves on making it through this past year. I believe that many of us in the divorce community can relate to this statement. We made it through so much!! She feels that it is important to take a moment to acknowledge and become aware, with a sense of gratitude, that we survived all the ups and downs, trials, and tribulations of this past year, and therefore, we should be proud of ourselves for that alone. That is enough. We don’t need to keep demanding more.
She wonders why we are continually adding more pressure to our already stressful lives. Demanding more and setting goals to attempt to reach a perfection that is not even attainable. Why not acknowledge and offer ourselves grace for all that we’ve gone through? After all, we not only managed to survive the difficulties and struggles of 2023, but all the tough times experienced throughout our entire lives, as well!! (I love her wisdom & insight.) By acknowledging this victory and approaching the New Year with this awareness, we can bring a new level of kindness, understanding and forgiveness to ourselves during 2024.
You can be sure that in the upcoming weeks we will be met with challenges as well as joys. All are part of the large vast tapestry of our lives. Let’s learn to go easy on ourselves and allow life to unfold as it will.
Instead of New Year Resolutions for 2024, let’s replace it with a New Year Congratulations!! We survived!! Let’s embrace 2024 with compassion, love and a promise to be kinder and gentler to ourselves and others. To be proud of what we have accomplished, understanding that life is layered with good times and bad, and all must be encountered for a full and well-lived life.
Here’s to your 2024. May it be filled with peace and acceptance of all that is.
Weekly Dose Divorce Support Group
Denise Palmer
