If you know me, you know that I am a crier, an especially sappy one at that. It’s as if the second even the slightest something moves me, the water in my eyes springs a sudden leak. So, it came as no surprise to anyone in my family that while watching a football game last week and a phone commercial came on the television that I found myself weeping. Long lost souls connecting, sharing, smiling, crying, embracing – it has me tearing up again as we speak! And the kicker was the tag line. “Connection Changes Everything”.
Dang, connection really does change everything.
Connection is the lifeblood of our existence. Historically, it had been a literal survival mechanism and while we are no longer fighting off saber tooth tigers, we thrive, evolve and grow when we are in connection and community with others. We still need our tribe.
We know this on an intellectual level, it is well documented and studied but I think most of us know this on a felt, experiential level too. Being in connection and community with others feels good. To be seen, known and loved is a fundamental need as human beings.
And yet, despite having every technology and opportunity at our finger tips, we seem to be the very opposite, now more than ever. Politically, spiritually, socially, culturally, economically, the divide is wide between so many. It is easy in this day and age to separate ourselves; to stand in a different corner from others; to view the world as “us vs. them” and yet, the anger, judgment, fear and sadness that this generates is so very harmful on so many levels, not just collectively but personally too. It is no coincidence that simultaneously, our society experiences epidemic levels of anxiety, depression, physical illness and loneliness.
As I have also likely shared with you before, every year I select a word that tends to encapsulate the year ahead. Actually, more accurately, it feels like the word chooses me. While the word often weaves its way through the months ahead in literal ways, I love looking back and recognizing the areas where it was a little more subtle but equally, if not more powerful.
Given the backdrop of my tv commercial tears, my fascination with our social landscape, and always, the women with whom I get to work, a most perfect word emerged and is exactly the remedy for my ache.
Community.
My word for 2025 is “Community”. Because connection changes everything and I am longing for that change. My little heart longs for a change that bonds rather than separates, loves rather than judges and embraces rather than denies and perhaps one small step at a time is how we get there.
I have some concrete ideas and plans in place to foster this sense of community and as years past have shown me, it will also likely show up and surprise me in a million little ways that I could have never foreseen. I intend to be open to it all.
No matter your intentions, goals and dreams for 2025, I invite you to remember that we are indeed, better together. We are far more alike than we are different. And despite those perceived differences, we are all tender human beings seeking connection.
May your new year find you connected and in a loving community. May the magic of the world unfold just as you desire. And friend, may our paths cross.