A holiday wish for rest, recovery, and renewal

Happy almost holidays.

Later today, I'll close myoffice for a week of rest, recovery, and recharging before beginning 2023.

Before I go, though, I wanted to share a parting thought with you as we all shift into a new year where the only thing that's certain is more change.

This is a quote from one of the books that is never more than an arm's length away from my work desk: Eye of the Albatross: Visions of Hope and Survival , by Carl Safina. Safina spent a portion of his career studying seabirds, including traveling with albatrosses, whose wandering range can exceed 75,000 miles of territory in a year.

I first read this quote printed in a textbook for a conflict resolution and mediation training I completed 15 years ago. (The training, and this quote, changed the course of my life to lead me to where I sit right now, writing to you. And if you know me well -- while the birds tattooed on my right arm are Northern Gannets, not Albatross, the reason for that tattoo loops back to this quote.)

“I am impressed anew by the shaping forces of hunger and harshness, and by how much the harshness that challenges life is what causes the beauty. Birds fly because they must escape predators and search for food. Trees grow skyward because they compete fiercely with other trees for light. Living things need something to push off of. Each of us needs challenges to give us the right shape. [...] Blessed are our enemies and challengers. Here is the great paradox … without the things that can kill us, we could not survive. Without challenges to our very existence, we could never have come to be.”

― Carl Safina, Eye of the Albatross: Visions of Hope and Survival

For many of us, this has been a doozie of a year.

We may find ourselves experiencing hunger, harshness, headwinds, fierce competition, and an uncertain and challenging environment right now. We may be weary of how much of our energy is spent in pushing-off of others and our surroundings, craving more ease and abundance.

And, it helps me to remember during times like this that the challenges I'm navigating are giving me my right shape. Times like this are how we each come to be.

Thank you for sticking around here through 2022. I'm sending you wishes for rest, recovery, and time and space to recharge during this holiday season, and that you have a festive start to 2023.

Best wishes,

-Sara