Kintsugi.
“A Japanese technique for repairing pottery with seams of gold. The word means ‘golden joinery’ in Japanese. This repairs the brokenness in a way that makes the object more beautiful, and even more unique than it was prior to being broken. Instead of hiding the scars it makes a feature of them.”
Now when I first heard this term (shoutout Children of Zeus one time), I absolutely fell in love with what it means. Embracing the broken, the scars and making something beautiful of it – embracing the change.
2021 wasn’t the easiest year, and a lot of people have dealt with things that have broken them in ways they probably can’t even speak of. This doesn’t make you any less, or mean your journey is finished – but it can be hard to move fearlessly with the “brokenness” is still looming over you.
I’ve sat on this blog for a while, but with it being the “New Year” since a lot of us see January as a trial run.. I thought that this concept is one we can all apply to our lives to help us take our power back and make something beautiful of the card we’ve been dealt.
1. Let Go
While everything happens for a reason, there isn’t always a lesson in everything that happens. Stop holding onto the parts of your past that no longer serve you because you have an incessant need to make sense of it. Sometimes life doesn’t make sense – and you know what? That’s okay. Give yourself the power and let go of the pain that is holding you back.
2. Remember It’s Okay to Quit
I know I wrote about this in a previous blog, but a lot of us don’t like to hear word so I’m here to remind you – it’s okay to quit! Walking away from what broke you, whether it be a person, place or thing is okay and definitely recommended. Taking back your power starts here, by removing the things that aren’t good for you or that don’t fulfil you long term.
3. Re-Write Your Story
Narratives are so important.. Was it a bad day or a bad moment within the day? Was it a bad year full of brokenness, or was it a good year with moments that broke you?
How you speak to yourself and about yourself is important. Make an attempt to look at your experiences again, and try to understand why things happened the way they did. Recognise the opportunities for growth
within the parts of your past that tried to break you and then do the work to make sure you’re continuing to grow throughout it all.
4. Be Disciplined with Self Care
We’ve talked about this one before.. discipline. It’s hard, but not because it’s impossible, but because it requires intentionality.
When we’re physically unwell, we do the most with the home remedies and take all the rest we can get.. but when we’re emotionally unwell? we like to pretend as though we’re fine and don’t give ourselves that same TLC. This year I want you to be more disciplined with the way you care about yourself, prioritise you and the things that lead to your healing – and be intentional with it.
A lot of the time we base our happiness on the outcome of change rather than falling in love with the process of change. We focus of the outcome of being beautiful, rather than enjoying the moment of doing the work and embracing the scars we have.
This year, I want us to learn to enjoy the process of bettering ourselves. Making the changes for yourself is something to be proud of.. and the results are just the added bonus.
May this year be one of the best ones yet.
“You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.”
Psalms 139:4