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Happy New Year

January 13, 2021 | Dayrin Perez

2021 written on the road
“When you take things for granted, you are less in the moment, you are less present. You miss out on things that matter and the people, places, events and things that are happening right in front of you. You miss out on the joy from the simple things.”

Happy New Year Friends!

Welcome 2021!  I don’t know about you but I ended the year reflecting and giving thanks to God for all the blessings that 2020 brought and for all the lessons learned through the struggles.  Here are some of mine:

  1. Precious Family Moments: Both my husband and I work. Prior to Covid, I would leave the house at 7:30 a.m. and would not return until about 6 p.m. (on a good day). I love my work but I must admit that I did miss a lot of important moments with my family. One of the blessings this time has brought is the ability to be more present to the special moments as a family. Yes this was a struggle. I often felt guilt for being glued to my computer while the kids were downstairs, but then I realized that I got to make them lunch everyday now, or sit and work on my laptop next to them while they colored, practiced their letters, or jumped on the trampoline outside.
  2. Girl running hand through the tall grassGetting to know others on a deeper level: If you have been in a meeting with me in these last 10 months, then you have surely seen one of my children on screen, whether it’s the hand of a 4 year old waving, or their heads peaking up in the corner of the zoom screen. You probably have also seen me open snack bags and dress dolls. One of the blessings that I truly appreciate is the ability to get to see each other in our natural elements. Working from home, we get to see each (or hear) each other’s families, we get to know the pets, the challenges in our homes.  I feel personally connected to more people than I did before.
  3. Taking things for granted. This time has made me reflect on what is around me. I started thinking of all the things that I was not noticing in my day to day life that all of a sudden were taken away. I reflected on what I was taking for granted. When you take things for granted, you are less in the moment, you are less present. You miss out on things that matter and the people, places, events and things that are happening right in front of you. You miss out on the joy from the simple things.  For me it was our simple dinners with our immediate family or with our close circle of friends.  How many times was I too tired to notice what was going on with them?
  4. We are meant for relationships. I mean I knew that we were meant to be in relationship with one another, but this pandemic has highlighted the importance of social interaction and human contact. For years now, we have been texting, emailing, using social media as our forms of communication instead of a phone call or a face to face conversation. While I am grateful that we have these means of communication during these times when we can’t physically be together, I am also even more aware of the need to be together and be in relationship with one another. As things start getting back to “normal” my prayer and hope is that we don’t loose this desire to truly be with one another.

These are just some of the things that I reflected on as the year ended and some of the things that I’m going to keep in mind this year and for the future. I don’t want to go back and loose the good things that I have gained. I don’t want to miss the things or take things for granted and loose out on the joy that those can bring in my life. My challenge for you is to go back and reflect on lessons learned and the blessings that you have received. Blessings for you in this new year.