What will 2022 Bring?
By Cecilia Sepp, CAE, CNAP, VEIP
We are back from the holiday break, and with the first article of the year, I’d like to say, “Happy New Year!” While we don’t know what 2022 will bring, we do know what we bring to 2022.
“What does that mean?” you might be asking. The best answer to that question is the Zen response: “No matter where you go, there you are.” Wherever we might find ourselves personally or professionally, we are there. Our hopes, dreams, fears, knowledge, experience, wants, desires, and emotional wounds. If the calendar happens to change from 2021 to 2022, you are still the same person.
The inspiring thing about a New Year is that it gives us a starting point to re-examine our place in the world and to review what we would like out of life. It motivates us to make changes that we know we should have already made. Or it could simply remind us that the holiday season is over, and we need to go back to eating apples instead of cookies.
While the calendar may change, we really don’t. A holiday break may refresh us and re-energize us, but it doesn’t change us. What it does do is give us the opportunity to re-commit to being our best selves. Taking a break from our regular routine reminds us of what we have, where we are, and where we might want to go next. Removing the distractions of daily living with a break, whether it’s the holidays or a vacation, lets us see a bit more clearly what really matters to us.
What I was reminded of is that we create the world we live in through our choices and actions. Attitude and mindset color the environment (think glass half full or half empty). I was also reminded to practice acceptance; one of the things we have to accept as humans is that we cannot change the entire world. But the good news is that we can change the little part of the world where we stand.
As nonprofits of all types have confronted “the same old same old” in responding to the pandemic lockdown protocols, rules, and regulations, opportunities for change and doing things differently were embraced. Realizations about the world we live in v. the world we used to live in were made. Some difficult shedding of ideas had to occur, but this led to growth – as uncomfortable as it might have been.
While some refer to “The Terrible 2020s” in my opinion, the 2020s have shown us the brilliance that exists in the world, most notably in the technologies and systems that helped us during the Lockdown. We showed our resilience, adaptability, and hope in the future. Nonprofits have a reputation of resistance to change and being slow to adapt. But if nonprofits can adapt, as they did so well over the last 2 years, I think that is a demonstration of what we are capable of if we get out of our own way.
The real question we should ask is: What do YOU Bring to 2022? Only you can answer that question, and it’s one we should all consider. Like “the path not taken” as noted by the American poet Robert Frost, your answer will make all the difference.
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