People who are close to me know that I am drawn to think of life in seasons and rhythms and themes. And as I typed the last sentence I remembered that we are about to enter a new liturgical year! I hate making New Year's resolutions. It's so easy to be so grand and grandiose in the excitement of the moment. The realist and moderate parts in me much rather reflect on the past year and cast a vision for the new year. And doing it in a setting like a liturgical year lightens the pressure. I like the idea of a new year. I suspect most of us like the new year because it is a new beginning. It is a fresh start. It is filled with hope. It raises our vision just a bit higher, and that can be the difference between looking at the red tail-lights packed together like sardines and the city scape at dusk.
I am ready for a fresh start. There were definitely battle wounds and travel fatigue from the past year. But there are also moments of utter joy. And at the end of the day, or should I say year, I am still me, but a me that is a little wiser, a little more mature. And a little weaker and a day closer to death. Gosh, do I sound balanced? How very ecclesiastes-cal.
One of the small gems I found online by following a rabbit trail is the graduation speech given by Amie Wilkinson to the UC Berkeley Math Department. (A pdf link can be found here.) She seems to have great psychological awareness for a profession that draws more than its share of people further along the autism spectrum. She exhorts the audience to do something that they are not good at. Why? So we can better acknowledge our weak side.
I will end this blogpost with one of my favorite quote from her speech:
Why push yourself like this? Because the hard-won traits can be the
most gratifying. And because all of this exercise – and that’s what it is –
keeps you young. You also can’t escape learning how to work with yourself,
especially with what you might have once regarded as a terrible flaw in your
personality.
Happy New Year!
