Hindsight is CLARITY

It was always meant to be a ‘special’ year but 2020 turned out to be harder than most. I guess I hadn’t thought about all the different meanings of the term ‘special’! I spent time at New Year’s thinking about all the different themes I might have for this special year. I really liked the idea of ‘clarity’ for my word of the year. After all, 20:20 eyesight is about as clear sighted as you can get! 

On Boxing Day we drank Prosecco. Lots and lots of Prosecco. 
I can’t say no when mum offers and dad pours and it would just be rude to decline. And I really, really like Prosecco. Only at Christmas time do I allow myself such free range daytime drinking. Not sure that that makes it all ok but I can definitely justify it to myself. Especially Christmas in Victoria at the end of a year of schooling a Year 12 student from home and learning to use Zoom.
‘Cheers!”
Ian drinks beer with dad. We are both drinking more than usual. It’s the first year with teetotaling teenagers who have a driving licence. It’s been a long time coming. My own home-grown designated drivers. I feel just a bit clever about that. 
I raise my glass to the sky and silently give thanks. This year has been harder than most. It was meant to be special year with its pleasingly alliterative numbers and alluring associations with wisdom and farsightedness and the simple joy of clarity. 

That’s what I wanted. I wanted clarity.

The word intrigued me. My coach used it all the time in the context of business direction and staff management. Every time she used it, it made me focus. She talked often about our staff having clarity about what was expected of them. She talked about the business having clarity about our goals and strategy. We talked about communicating clearly, with clarity.  It hadn’t been a part of my every day vocabulary. Now I, too, used it all the time. That in itself was enough to convince me it was a word with influence. It had won me over. 

It turns out instead that ‘hindsight’ would have been a better word to work with. I think we can all agree that 2020 is much better now it is well and truly in the past. It is best viewed from a really long, long, long way away.

At least that’s what I thought. 

I thought the same at the end of 2021, a year that was somehow even worse; part extension of a year that never seemed to end and part exacerbation of the continuously ravaging pandemic. At the start of 2022 I knew better and found a different lens to view it from. 

I spent some time during that year looking into some of the words and placidly was the first to submit to my curiosity.

Placid – calm, peaceful, tranquil, mild; of unruffled temperament (Collins Dictionary)

Placable – easie to be pleased (Cawdrey’s First English Dictionary)

Somehow the term held a whiff of disdain about it, a hint of condescension, a suggestion of perhaps being a bit slow of wit or lacking intellect. It makes me think about solidity… and naivety. And yet here I was taking ownership of it as a desirable trait. In 2021 being ‘placid’ was the pinnacle of mental health and wellbeing in the chaotic world of healthcare and home-schooling.

Well good for you, Melinda, I hear you say, and fair enough, too. There’s nothing special about finding a way to get through that horrific time. We ALL went ‘there’ to the place where we found strength or solace in activities we never would have considered before C***d (baking sourdough bread, walking for an hour every night, cocktail parties over Zoom…)! You are absolutely right! Is it too soon to acknowledge the lingering shifts in the axis of our world? Me, I found myself a mantra !

It tells me to go with the flow. (Morning Pages April 2021)

I’m still whispering go placidly to myself in times of pressure or challenge and I’m so grateful to find it still holds that special power. Go placidly. Be serene. Find tranquillity. Take a breathe and focus. You’ve got this. 

I’m curious. Do you have a mantra or a word or a personal quote that you can use to centre yourself and balance? When do you find it most useful to you? How do you use it (under your breath like me???)? Is it a tattoo? Perhaps you have it in a symbolic form that you wear or keep tucked in a pocket. Don’t worry if you haven’t got one. You are more than welcome to share go placidly. It’s been shared by countless of us over decades and I reckon it’s still got a lot of energy it yet.

Clarity (and lack of darkness) is a eucalyptus quality

murray bail