Time to live large

In the New Year, I hope to write something small or large every day. I hope to live large.

In a few short hours, we will have survived one of the most difficult years of our lifetimes.

2020: The year of a global pandemic and ugly politics.

The year when we lost more than 340,000 Americans to a devastating disease.

The year when the disease polarized so many people about the silliest of things, like wearing masks. Unreal.

It was an ugly, gross, overwhelming year.

That said, I’ve lived through some pretty crappy years in the past decade.

2013: Breast cancer diagnosis No. 1.

2016: Breast cancer diagnosis No. 2.

Those were some dark days made better by my writing. During those years of toxic chemotherapy treatments and scalding radiation sessions, I found sitting in front of the computer, typing away pretty much saved me.

With the dawning of a New Year, I hope to find some peace again at the keyboard. I know putting this to paper might doom/dash my efforts. (I hate resolutions and will not be ruled by them!)

Still, it’s time for me to buckle down and try to do something with my words.

I hope to write something small or large every day.

I hope my writing will resonate with someone.

I hope my writing will continue to come to me. Some days, that’s a difficult ask.

I hope my writing will help my health. My shaking, arthritic fingers no longer fly across the keyboard like they once did.

I hope my writing will bring some meaning to my day-to-day life.

Earlier today, I saw a news feature on TV about a young physician who died due to COVID.

Her sisters spoke eloquently about their loss with one of them saying, ‘If anything, this has taught me that you only get one shot at this life. You need to live large.’

That really hit me.

I hope to live large in the New Year. I hope you will too.