Collective Exhale

The entire world watched.  And then, we all let out a huge, collective exhale.   I haven't stopped crying; or laughing for that matter.  That lump in my throat that's been there since 2016, the angst, the hustle, the avoidance, the averting of my gaze; just so I could keep going, waiting for 2020.  

It's all falling away, like an avalanche of emotions.  

For some of us, our bodies have been holding trauma since 2016. And for a large part of the world, that trauma kept building upon itself, well into the present moment.  We created a collective entanglement of fatigued, annoyed, frustrated, anxious, depressed individuals. I heard myself many times over last year … “Are you Kidding me???” and “What now?”  

I’m sure you did too.
It’s not over, no.
Not by a long stretch, but the unraveling has begun, and I feel a huge shift and I hope you do too.  

There are a few words that I heard yesterday that stand out for me… 

UNITY 
LIGHT 
FREEDOM 

I heard those words loud and clear and my heart skipped a beat. But nowhere did President Biden say that we could go back to sleep.  Neither did Amanda Gorman. In fact, she spoke deep truth. She didn’t hide a damn thing – and I love that. “The Soul of America shall be returned to us.” As if someone stole it … no one stole it.  We just weren’t connected deeply enough to it.  We were distracted.  

We were hiding at times, asleep at others.  And now, we are woke.  

“And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.
We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true.
That even as we grieved, we grew.
That even as we hurt, we hoped.
That even as we tired, we tried.
That we'll forever be tied together, victorious.
Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.” - Amanda Gorman

Remember the foundation you built.  We’ve all grown so much.  I’m not sure about you, but my mojo fell flat more than once last year.  I felt depleted. Like I had been bullied to my core, unable to take it anymore. I’ve been there before, only with less tools. I got up, dusted myself off, and I kept going.  

2020 gave us the opportunity to realign and devote ourselves deeper to what matters.  And it also made us dive deep into truth – truth that maybe you hadn’t explored yet. So here we are.  A new Presidency. A new paradigm.  Focused on Unity, Light and Freedom. 

I believe whole-heartedly that we grew our resiliency last year.  Now it’s time to heal.  Not avoid, avert, or bypass.  Heal.  I too had time to reassess where I was putting my energy and I have new offerings for you this year.  Tools I dusted off and used on myself that worked gloriously.  It was a tough one for me, truth me told. Still walking the line of grief and gratitude every single day.  I’m not the same Dana Damara – and I didn’t get “here” by bypassing or pretending.  I sat in the fire of 2020 .. awake and in truth. Very uncomfortable but oh so necessary.

I feel refined, awake, and ready to serve again. 

I hope you’ll join me.