It’s a New Year. What the FORK Do We Do Now?

I’ve been amused to the point of tears with the clever memes filling my social media streams about 2022. If we’ve learned anything from 2021, it’s not to expect anything! 2021 personified Steinbeck’s famous line, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Yep, COVID variants kept us from returning to our full “normal”.

Here we are firmly in the jaws of a fresh, new 2022 with Omicron taking center stage. Our excitement and enthusiasm about returning to “normal” again stalled. Are we ready to start making plans? Will we be able to move forward? We’ve been hiding for so long I wonder how it’ll feel when we finally come out of this.

So, what the fork do we do now? Do we plan, do we wait? If we choose to wait, how long do we wait before making plans?

The only answer that keeps coming is that we simply focus on existing right now. Right now doesn’t require planning. Right now doesn’t require waiting. If you’re alive then you’re here now. Somehow, we need to get to a place where just being here now is enough to fill us with gratitude.

I love the movie Kung Fu Panda. My favorite part is when Master Oogway tells Master Shifu, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow’s a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why they call it the present.” Every single time I hear this, the all-knowing-inside me understands profoundly. it resonates so deeply that for a moment I am able embrace the present without worrying about the future even if it's just for a few seconds.

Today, January 6, 2022 is a gift. You are here now. No matter what else is going on in your life, at this moment you’re alive! You’re forkin’ ALIVE! For some reason you’re still kickin’ and you’re reading this to remember that life is precious.

So again, I ask, what the fork do we do now? Whatever the fork you want because this moment is all you really have. Don’t waste it.