January 2021 Quote: Time Heals

“Time heals.”

To the 2020 survivor and 2021 wonderer, This is one of the simplest quotes I will probably choose to discuss for the quote of the month. To me, it was fitting given 2020 was the hardest year yet, and we all could use some peace, clarity, and calm. As I write this, it is New Year’s Eve. I remember this day exactly last year, at midnight, I looked outside my window at the cars lining the street and the houses towering above me, as fireworks cascaded down in the sky. I whispered under my breath, best year yet best year yet.

It has not been, obviously.

But I have been thinking as one does at the end of the year, what the last year has brought and what the new year will bring.

And this is the first year I truly don’t know.

I don’t have a 2021 calendar. I don’t have any plans.

I just don’t know what 2021 will be like because I know that just a flip of a calendar day will not make this pandemic healed, I know it will not bring back loved ones who people lost, it will not fix the social injustice in countries around the world, it will not solve climate change and other environmental issues, it will not fix everything.

But a new year is a new start—- a change. A chance for things to begin again or to be better.

And I think that’s why so many people are excited for a new year—-the hope they have. And hope’s a powerful, and beautiful thing. Don’t lose it. But sorry to be a bit down, but it’s hard not to think about how 2021 is a year I just don’t know. And I heard something recently how we all thought 2020 would be the best year, but then it wasn’t, but at least we will all go into 2021 thinking it might suck and that prepares us better than it did last year 😂. I thought that was morbidly funny, but true.

Because I don’t know.

But I do know as much as I don’t know, time heals.

And that’s a cliché I know, but I read it in Meet Cute recently, which is a book review that’s coming soon, and when I read that, it just resonated with me a lot. Especially this year and this moment when I don’t know. Because things don’t get better in a day, a month, heck, now even a year. They get better over time and we might never know how long that time will be, but we have to trust that time will heal what has been going on in the world or with our lives personally.

We have to let time seep into our wounds and stitch us back together and slowly help us walk again. If you have ever broken a bone or have gone through a procedure, there’s part of you that is hurt—-broken. With a broken bone, you get a cast or crutches, and it takes months for that bone to work itself together again—-to mend, to heal. And in that time, you adjust to a new lifestyle, and you try to find semblance in your new reality, much like what we have been doing. When the bone heals, you don’t simply walk tirelessly on it or go for a joke or over extend yourself to reinsure that injury. No. You give it more time to heal. You give yourself grace and gentleness because you know you were hurt before and you don’t want to hurt yourself again.

Healing something broken twice over takes much longer to heal.

But there will come a day when you can walk or use that bone again. There will be months where you work up to being able to do and move like you used to. And there will be a year, a moment, where you will feel like you.

Time heals.

The same is if you’ve ever had a procedure. For days after, you are probably not up and running either, but resting in bed as you should be. And then maybe after a few days, you’re well, but you again, have to give yourself grace and kindness not to overexert yourself. But there will come a day after your procedure where you can move and feel like you again.

It takes time.

Time heals.

This year, in March, we all broke a bone. We were all left broken inside—somewhere. And we stayed that way for about three months or so, staying home, wearing our masks, or trying to do our part. And then after summer, we rushed our healing a bit and tried to return to normal too quickly, and we broke ourselves twice over—-longer to heal. And we keep walking/moving on broken bones. And no one could ever heal if they kept breaking themselves to feel better. But yet, we have. And we have suffered those consequences for nine moths over. We are still hurting. I didn’t think we would back in March—-I thought by now we would be better. But we’re not.

But I have noticed people being gentle and kind to themselves more then ever this year—-dong self-care, checking in with others, acknowledging very real emotions. Because everyone is going through something right now—-everyone went through something this year and it might not even be pandemic related. It might be with family issues, friendship heartaches, relationship fallouts, mental health issues, health issues, financial complications, and other things. All of that on top of a pandemic.

We keep breaking and breaking and breaking.

I have noticed people being gentle and kind to others with the Black Lives Matter movement, with the election, with helping neighbors, with reaching out to elders, by being there for others. We have taken more time this year to form connections with people we would have always said we never had the time to do, nor that we wanted to do.

We keep healing and healing and healing.

Time helps and time heals.

And that’s something I needed to remember. Because I don’t feel like it will, but I know it will. I might not see it. But it will.

We have been moving and functioning with our brokenness for the majority of this year, and I know there will be a day where we will move and function in a better normal. A day where things won’t feel so broken, empty, or hurt.

There will come a day.

Because

A broken bone heals.

A broken heart mends.

A broken year sucks.

But give it time.

May this year heal, and may time also ❣️

As always, with so much love,