Year of the Dragon & the Lioness

2012: Year of the Dragon

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day   — Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Happy New Year, friends from real life and the blogosphere!

Although we’re already well into the New Year, I’m still excited about the fresh start and anticipating the wonderful things to come. There’s nothing quite like a new year to remind you it’s never too late to reinvent yourself, to try new things, to make new goals.

I’m big into naming the year and then watching how it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: 2011 was named REINVENTION and reflecting back, it definitely was a year of reinvention on levels both physical and spiritual. A long-awaited for surgery reinvented my physical body and was literally transformed, resulting in a brand-new confidence and lack of shame I never had before. I also embarked on a lovely journey overseas, and learned that it’s true … travel changes you.

I read Sarah Ban Breathnach and Marianne Williamson and let their wise words transform how I looked at myself as a woman and someone of value. I got myself into the best shape I’ve ever been in my life (with a little help from the surgery, of course). I read so many books that changed my life. For months I wandered like a ship without a rudder, purposeless and directionless, feeling neither peaceful nor excited about my chosen career path. I had to hole up in the coffee shop and do some intense thinking, praying, and decision-making until I landed on a new choice, a new path, a new adventure. Schooling begins next week and I couldn’t be more excited!

I had to, like Ray Lamontagne sings, “look my demons in the eye, said do your best, destroy me.“

Rest assured there will be more of that this year.

beautiful lioness

It’s funny how this year I haven’t settled on one specific word to name my year; rather, two images that keep appearing that resonate with me, for perhaps similar reasons.

Firstly, the dragon. It is the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese Zodiac, after all. Dragons are a complex mythological image depending on one’s background, but I’ve chosen to adapt them to a personal symbol for the damaging, unhealthy things in life that don’t need to be there (insecurity, negativity, catastrophizing situations) and the act of overcoming them.

This year, let’s slay those dragons, whether we’ve created them ourselves or if they’ve appeared on their own. Let’s be valiant, victorious, let’s rise up from out of the ashes and not let another year go by without conquering our fears and letting go of our baggage. Let’s be strong, shining, and joyful no matter the circumstance.

I’m particularly drawn to this verse:

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord!

I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

The Sovereign Lord is my strength!

He makes me as surefooted as a deer,

able to tread upon the heights

–Habakkuk 3:17-19

The second image that resonates with me is the lioness, the fierce protector, the powerful female, the queen, the deafening roar of one awake to her calling. Wild, free, purposeful.

I’ll save elaboration for when I’ve fully grasped the meaning of the image, but in the meantime, I’m excited for what this new year will bring: for the adventures, the victories, the tales of bravery and boldness, the ways in which we all may slay our personal dragons and roar in the face of adversity.

It’s going to be one wild ride! Will you adventure with me?

Advertisement