P.O.P

A few weeks ago, I wrote about creating balance between making the holidays feel normal in the face of a pandemic that's made them anything but and making them feel radically different, almost brand new.

Gratefully, I think we were able to create that balance. And now, for New Year's Eve.  Ranks up there with Valentine's Day for me in the sense that there's so much hype around it and I find myself exhausted trying to live up to and and also ignore said hype.  So what to do on this last day of December?  Make it feel like every other NYE when it clearly isn't?  Or go a totally different direction?  Orrrrrrr, Option C; create balance!  

Cliché as it is, I do like the idea of welcoming a new year and having a blank canvas on which to paint whatever's next.  But first, we party.  It's entirely possible that this year, more than any other, will be ushered out in grand fashion.  I'm making a concerted effort to not only focus on 2020 ending, but rather 2021 beginning.  Equally important is acknowledging that there was good stuff in 2020, too.  Was it overshadowed by the bad stuff?  Sure.  Often that was the case.  But our perspective is a powerful tool in reframing what--and how--we see.  Right?

So the party!  This year, it'll be the four of us---and it's been that way before, this isn't new.  I think what's new is that it's the four of us because we really can't (shouldn't) include anyone else.  Story's as old as time; tell me I can't have something, I'll want it that much more.  Quality time as Rayman4 is a gift, no doubt.  But man alive we'll miss our friends. A lot.

Rather than focus on who isn't here and what we can't do, we're going to make tonight all about POP.  Balloons to pop, corks to pop, poppers, pop music and pop foods (popcorn, poptarts--homemade!, popcicles...) to round us out.  But there's a plot twist---because it's 2020---POP isn't more than a goofy theme dreamed up by a Mama trying to make NYE fun for her girls, it's a mindset.  It stands for Power Of Positivity.  A solid reminder to look for, focus on and draw out the positives.  

Spoiler alert--I'm not always sunshine and lollipops (oooh, lollipops--that's a good one!).  Not by a longshot.  I do, however, find a great deal of peace when I look at the bright side.  Sometimes that's easy to do, sometimes it's not--I'll grant you that.  But with practice, repetition and discipline, we can all do a better job of focusing on the good stuff.  Gratitude journals?  A Joy Jar?  Even a list on your phone (I have them going back 3 years!).  However you choose to practice, I invite you to give it a shot and be aware of how you feel when you're really in the groove of noticing the good stuff.

Tonight, we'll create balance; traditional shrimp scampi dinner in the dining room, using our Christmas china once more before it's packed away.  We'll play games and watch a little bit of Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve.  Maybe we'll Zoom with friends or family, maybe we'll pop champagne before midnight.  Balance.  "Old" stuff and "new" stuff.  All of it good stuff. 

Tonight, we're going to POP our way outta 2020 and into 2021.  Who knows--maybe we'll POP all year long!  Maybe I'll get into the habit of asking Mark and the girls "What's POPping" in their lives from time to time, reinforcing the amazing things that happen when we focus on what's positive.

Wishing you all that your heart wants and needs as we welcome a new year.  May hope, peace and joy be yours in abundance.

xo,
Amy