Year of the Rabbit
I am late for the New Year on January 1, but I am just in time to wish each of you a Happy Chinese New Year! The year of the Rabbit begins today, January 22, 2023. Like our Western zodiac signs, millions utilize Chinese astrology to determine personality, career choices, and marriage partners. They govern their entire lives according to their sign. Chinese astrology comprises 12 animals, starting with the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig: in that order. Within 12 years, each animal is represented as the “ruler” for that year. As the fourth animal sign and the most favored, the Rabbit (pronounced “Tu” in Chinese) represents peace, prosperity, durability, and a little luck. On the other hand, I also read that the year of the Rabbit could be turbulent and include extraordinary events that could affect the whole world.
No, thank you on that last part. I have had enough turbulence and chaos to last me a lifetime. So I am going with the more favorable option of peace and prosperity (and hopefully a little of that luck) to guide my actions for the coming year.
I was so pleased with myself; it took me only a week to re-establish myself after the chaos of the holidays. That is a good sign considering only a couple of months ago, any minor change would have thrown me into such a tailspin that it would have taken me at least a couple of weeks to feel back to “normal” again. However, in the last few months, I have started feeling a lot better emotionally and physically, to the point where I am looking forward to this new year, a new beginning, and starting a new life. This is a big step for me, considering I was as low as possible and feeling hopeless about everything just a few months ago.
However, as usual, life was not allowing me to get too comfortable; the chaos began again. First, I found out I was approved for my new apartment and was moving in February, so I had to make plans for that big move from Georgia to Alabama. Then one of my husband’s brothers passed, and we needed to make plans to travel to New Jersey for the viewing and services. The difference now is I feel more confident than I have in a very long time, and once I get through this minor bump in the new year, I should have a clear path.
If you need to read my story about how I found myself in this situation, start here, at the very beginning. At first, I felt odd about putting my personal and, in my opinion, embarrassing life online for the whole world to see. But, as I kept going, I slowly started feeling better. It was like letting it out in the most public way; I was ridding myself of all the negative thoughts and feelings. I was feeling much lighter and more positive. Of course, I still think about those times, but they do not affect me as they used to. I now look at those situations more logically and from all sides instead of just the negative emotional terminal it caused me previously.
If you have experienced pain and trauma that you can’t seem to let go of and is causing a detrimental effect on your life and those around you, I suggest writing it out as factually as you can. If you need, get someone you trust and who was around then to review and get their opinion on the truthfulness of your story. My husband, Ron (who was also part of my problem), agreed to read all my posts before publishing to ensure that everything I stated was true. He even reminded me of some situations I completely forgot or blocked out.
Now, you don’t have to publish it on the Internet for all to see; just the fact that you wrote it out factually should free you from a lot of the negative emotional thoughts controlling your life. Yes, the pain will still be there and will take time to resolve, but it won’t rule your life, allowing you to move forward.
New Year’s Resolutions
Did you make your New Year’s resolutions yet? How many have your broken already? I used to do that — make a list of the things I wanted to change or do in the coming year, then either never follow through or would try for a few weeks before I gave up and went back to my usual routine.
One of the most significant issues for my not completing a resolution was primarily due to other people in my life. Causing me so much stress and chaos that I became so overwhelmed that I couldn’t focus on anything other than survival, trying to make it through one day at a time. This year is going to be different. Instead of creating a list at the beginning of the year, I will declare a resolution each month and then work during that time to incorporate the change I desire into my daily routine.
To start the new year off on the right foot, my current resolution is:
Do Everything with purpose. All actions and words spoken will be done thoughtfully and carefully or not at all.
Reading
The one good thing that came out of the last few years of trials and tribulations is that I learned that I am not crazy, self-centered, overly sensitive, or the other many things I have been called or treated as. Instead, I realized that I am an Empath who, according to Dictionary.com, “has a particular tendency or ability to enter into or psychologically identify with the emotions, thoughts, or attitudes of others.” The Oxford Dictionary, however, indicates that “an Empath is (chiefly in science fiction) a person with the paranormal ability to apprehend the mental or emotional state of another individual.”
For years, I knew something different about me, but no one wanted to talk about it, condemned or laughed at me for being different. Over the centuries, there has been a spooky connotation of being an Empath. Recently, however, science has found a variation in the genetic code that defines this condition as an essential trait. Scientifically it is called “Sensory processing sensitivity”; this is the same as if you were born with blue eyes or the shape of your ears, and there is nothing you can do to change that. The best course of action is the educate others on our differences and learn to protect yourself from the everyday stressors that may not bother everyone else.
This is what I will focus on this year; healing myself and educating others that there is nothing wrong with being an Empath and that it is a unique gift that should be exposed to the whole world.
If you think that sounds like you and you felt all your life something was different about yourself, you never fit it anywhere, others made fun of you for the way you did things or pushed you to constantly do things that you were not comfortable with; you may also be an Empath. For my newly found Book Club, the first book of the year is The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. There is a quick quiz in the book to determine if you, too, have the “Sensory processing sensitivity” trait, which she refers to as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). Dr. Aron also provides this quiz on her website, The Highly Sensitive Person, if you are still deciding if you want to buy the book.
I chose this book to read first because it is crucial to dispel the myth that empaths are creepy, spooky, strange, crybabies, or any other words you can think can think of, given to us by others who do not have this trait. Dr. Aron explains the scientific research, helps us understand the HSP trait, and reverse some of the damage done over the years by people who didn’t understand. Allowing us to be exactly who we were born to be, without excuses or fear, to be truly happy.
Below is the book we will be reading and discussing over the next few weeks at the Coping Creatively Patreon Community. There is also a companion workbook if you wish to purchase it, but it is a lot of work to do in the short time we have to cover this topic.
Journal
Every year I buy a new journal for planning and keeping track of what has happened throughout the year. The last few years, I tried starting but have gotten side-tracked about halfway through the year and never completed it. So here is a snapshot of last year’s planner:
About May last year, I saw the perfect planner from Sarah Renae Clark and vowed that I would buy her 2023 planner. Each page has coloring motifs to help you relax and contemplate your upcoming events and schedule.
It finally arrived before Christmas, but I wanted to wait to open and review it until the new year. So you can view my “Christmas in January” YouTube video as I open my long-awaited “present” and look through the contents.
Every day should make you feel like the holiday season, and today, just like a child on Christmas morning, I am looking through my new 2023 color planner from Sarah Renae Clark for the first time! See this fantastic date book’s beautiful coloring pages and thoughtful journaling prompts.
Join me on YouTube
My YouTube channel has received a makeover for the new year. To get this project started last year, I hired a company to edit most of my videos while I practiced and got used to performing that task myself. Having someone else do the editing also got very expensive, but now I am more confident in my skills and do the editing for all my videos. The only downfall is that I could be the fastest editor. However, since my first new year resolution is to do everything thoughtfully and carefully, I changed the number of videos to once a week until I become even better and faster. Plus, I am moving in a couple of weeks, so I don’t know how much time I will have. Once things have settled down, and if feasible, I would love to incorporate other videos; I have so many ideas to share with you running around in my head.
To start the new year, there is a new look with existing themes updated and some additional topics added.
- The Swatching videos, which have been very popular, will remain because I use a different pencil set for each color page, and I must do the swatching anyway. I wanted to include you all in the fun. Plus, you all keep me going since swatching can be very tedious.
- I will continue to do the Textures and Techniques videos. Since I am learning so many new things, I want to share them with you and bring you along on my journey.
- The most significant change is the Color-Along videos will only be featured in a single video once the coloring page is complete. Trying to complete a video or two every week was challenging.
- I have added the Christmas in… series. These will appear periodically throughout the year as I get new “presents.” I wanted to include you in the joy of opening a new product.
- There is also the new Play Date series, where we will do something fun and creative and could be anything your heart desires. So, I would love to hear your suggestions. I am always game for a new creative project!
You can always find me on YouTube @copingcreatively or by following this link:
Coping Creatively
Join Me on Patreon
There are some significant changes to the Coping Creatively Patreon Community too. Instead of having four tiers that build upon each other, I have set each tier to represent each topic covered.
- The first tier, I Want To Connect, is for those who wish to only be involved with the Book Club and discussions.
- The second tier, I Want To Relax, is for the person looking for a way to relax through the magic of colored pencils.
- The third tier, I Want To Learn, is for those who want to expand their coloring skills and join me on my journey to improve my colored pencil techniques.
- The final tier, I Want It All!, is for those who want to jump in and do it all!
You can join one or more tiers that interest you, but if you want to do them all, I suggest the fourth tier since it covers all the available topics. Plus, if you sign up for that tier, you buy two and get the third half off. That is a much better deal than buying the other three tiers separately.
Stop by the Let’s Connect page to see all the extras provided for each tier or stop by my Patreon Community site. I look forward to ‘seeing” you there!