For some people, tomorrow is opportunity to carry on the family traditions we grew up with, and that can certainly be a wonderful thing. For others, holidays like these can also be a beautiful reminder of how far we have come in terms of chosen family, chosen faith, and chosen peace.
If you’ve moved away from circumstances, relationships, patterns or groups that were breaking your spirit or didn't align with your conscience, good on you. No need to explain yourself. I see you. I celebrate you. I honor your choice to heal. Good on you.
There are also a lot of complex feelings that come up, especially in regards to both the loss of those you needed to leave behind to find peace in your world and with respect to the grief and horrors currently taking place in the world around us. A posture of gratitude is wonderful, yes, but acknowledging anger, hurt, pain or discomfort does not make us ungrateful.
Some years, we simply carry more sadness or outrage than gratitude. I want to remind you that this is perfectly okay. We can hold space for the goodness of ritual, gratitude and tradition (whether through families or ones we have created on our own) and also feel frustration, grief, even anger.
We carry so many things within us. Maybe the kindest thing we can do for ourselves and for one another is to lower expectations and do our best to provide peaceful, welcoming spaces for our weary, complicated souls to break bread together and simply be.
I hope you and yours have a peaceful Thanksgiving, or whatever you call it, however you choose to celebrate it. You're Loved, Fam.
