Togetherness

I read a tweet how humans weren’t meant to work in December and there is some truth to that. When work revolved around the hours of illuminated sunshine, days were shorter and tasks were focused more around upkeep and preparation for the warmer months ahead. Rise early and slumber early. Winter will be over soon.

We don’t schedule our day around the star in the sky as much as we used to but I like to think Earth’s turn around the hydrogen and helium gas have an effect on how we plan and carry our time. 

Each month/season, I pick a few keywords that sum up in the most simple of adjectives how I feel about the collective consciousness and palpable energy that we all seem to share and be entangled with. We are in a dance with something and I often try to name that something.

This month I have found myself craving social situations where the conversations  are effortless and pure and normally in a room where there is a rotation of sort where we play musical chairs and cover a range of topics. After a few weeks trying to figure out what was in the air, I was writing holiday cards in our apartment when I wrote down that I was looking forward to more “togetherness” in the new year. 

To be together can mean many things but togetherness is a “state” where one person or a group of people are “close” to another. Close can mean physical distance which at first I thought was what I meant considering the pandemic has taken away a lot of our chances to gather. But close can also mean intimate, of sharing in honesty. Not in a form of an unwarranted therapy session where you ask others to hold the heaviness that you yourself are tired of holding. It’s offering something rarely seen by friends and family who aren’t in your spaces often. It’s sharing in what matters to us recently and if this time has taught us anything, it’s that we care deeply and that we protect the things we care about. I love when the dialogue shifts into something that can be passed back and forth. I have left a few rooms lately feeling marked/changed and leaving better than I entered, feeling less alone than I had arrived.

With the rise in COVID cases globally, it’s a very real fear to see the little progress we have accomplished in the last 2 years be destroyed because we can’t seem to come “together” in our actions and values. I find hope in the moments where it’s safe for both our health and mind to collect. Collect: words, stories, quotes, inspiration, recipes, headlines, imagery, excitement, joy, love, friendship, and all things tangible. 

Hope is something I drink daily, even when the bar has run dry. Cheers to remaining hopeful, looking towards the future and being together, whatever that may mean.