Twelfth Night: imploring the pursuit of dreams, joy, and faithful companions.
The last of our New Year's missives.
Today is Twelfth Night and the historical end of the Christmas Festival. So if you already put in a full week of work remember your not too distant ancestors were still on holiday. Twelfth Night is also my favourite play of Shakespeares’ comedies. It is very silly and filled with inverted roles, love triangles, and mistaken identity. It starts with a shipwreck and it all ends well.
We love stories like this in their ancient and modern forms. Unlike the tragedies concerned with state and power, most of our lives are much more likely to be like Twelfth Night, filled with drunken relatives who won’t go to bed, unrequited love, and life storms that change our destinations and destinies. I know real life doesn’t come with a nicely wrapped bow and ovations proclaiming a satisfactory ending. But that’s the gift. You get to decide when the story ends. When new ones start. Who the characters are. We can’t control so many things in life and there is no guarantee that setting out on one journey will see you to complete it. You might not. But whether you start and who you travel with are all up to you. You have the opportunity to choose those parts well even when things are difficult.
I’ll use this Twelfth Night to also mark the end of these New Year missives to you and return to a more regularly spaced publishing schedule. What I wanted to offer you this week was a few reminders and a few tools to help you go after what you want.
Here’s a little reminder:
Resolutions/goals are not for making you “better” or so others see you as more valuable. They are an opportunity for you to keep taking action to align you actual life with what you love and value.
It’s not how bad you want something that makes it happen, it’s your decision to take action towards it. That’s what is required of you. No matter how small or slow you go taking action towards what you dream of brings you ever closer, leaves room for magic, and keeps you in alignment with yourself.
Your dreams are not frivolous. Taking care of yourself, bringing what you dream into the world, those actions undo some of the harm that is being thrown everywhere right now. We can’t make a world of peace and care out there until we start building it within us too. Your dreams and love put out into the world are a gift to all of us. Don’t be stingy.
If you are stuck or frozen right now under the weight of this world get some rest. The work that needs to be done now will require you to be ok. So make that a priority. I promise you if it takes four years we will still need you then.
If you don’t even know where to start and are overwhelmed with all that needs fixing on this planet, find one thing that gives you joy and do that again and again until your heart and your brain have a chance to get into agreement about what you want to bring into the world. You are neither the answer to everything nor can we do without you. We’ve not been shown to find the intersection between our joy and common good. It’s ok if it takes you awhile.
Thanks for reading along. I hope it’s been supportive. You can revisit or share the whole New Year’s series with friends here: https://slsourwine.substack.com/p/the-new-year-collection
I’ll be back soon. We’ve got this.
Susie
If you’d like a little support in learning How to Give Yourself Permission to make these and any changes in your life why not download my short audio course? I’ll help you understand what permission is, and isn’t, and how to make decisions and take actions towards what you want in the world.