Note: December is Word-of-the-Year Month at Christine’s Blog. As we roll into another New Year, each day will feature a new guest blogger who chose one word as a way of setting intention for her whole year. Today’s guest is Dawn Goldberg. More about Dawn below.
Every year, usually by the end of the year, I have a word. I look back over the last twelve months, and I clearly see a theme. Words of the Year have included everything from Year of the Dawn to Evolution.
This year was different.
Something happened, fairly catastrophic, or at least it seemed so at the time, that stripped away all illusions of what I thought my life was. I thought I had the ideal (dare I say perfect?) marriage, the “it” house, the privilege of owning my own business… Within days, almost all of it came crashing down around me. I found myself picking through the rubble of my life trying to figure out where the various pieces had come from. Some of them I never knew were there.
I likened my situation to that old video arcade game, Wac-a-mole. Moles popped up, and I wacked them without really acknowledging that they had ever been there.
All of the sudden, as I was picking up those unfamiliar pieces that had been there all along, I realized my life was unrecognizable. It hadn’t been the reality I had thought. I had been living my life based on an illusion.
So my word for 2008 is “unrecognizable.” I’m doing my best to pay attention to the moles and to keep the layers of illusion away. From now on, I’ll be able to recognize my life.
Dawn Goldberg
Blog: www.WriteWellMe.com
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I once read this quote that said finding true love starts with finding the love of truth. We have all been in the situation of not recognizing the truths, but not all of us have the courage you’ve shown. May you be relentless and kind to yourself along the way. Thank you for writing this post.
I congratulate you on your hard work and courage with the word “unrecognizable.” Such a strong word. I too find illusion can be very comfortable and seducing. So many teachers and writers say that the first step is to recognize what is an illusion.
Best wishes to you in the coming year.
Brave post Dawn! I love your message. Speaks to me.
So many people are leading “perfect” lives – that is “perfect” for someone else.
How can we all want the same things when we are so completely different at the core? I think we’ve been conditioned to want the illusions, so we’ll forget who we really are – wild and free. Hey girl, spend your magnificent life shopping/working in a windowless, climate controlled mall/office park.
I’m sending magical wishes for you to keep living your new brave life, the one that looks like the real you!
Thx for writing this.
G.
Dare to be different. Dare to be you!
Dawn – it must be so scary for you to be in a place that feels so unknown to you! But I truly believe it is your turning point into the life you are meant to lead. We just finished a major home renovation, liquidating all of our savings and then some not knowing My word for the year was abundance and it got me through the scary times by reminding me to focus on all the wonderful things we do have instead of what was obviously missing (i.e. cash!) I wish for you abundance as well and the insight to find the nuggets of truth that will get you there in a way that is true to who you really are. Thank you for sharing this with us all.
Waking up and seeing the ‘real world’ happens to us all on some level, although it seems that you got hit more than your fair share. I hope your word for 2009 ends up being ‘fantastic’ or ‘authentic’ or some such happy word.
Thank you all for your comments. I find it interesting that many of you used the word “truth.” It’s not so much that I feel like I was living a lie; that connotes some deliberate covering up. I see illusion as different from lies.
Although for both illusion and lies, truth is the opposite.
I don’t know what my word for 2009 will be. I’m still working through picking up the pieces. I will say that the word will NOT be “unrecognizable.”
Love to you all,
Dawn