December 31, 2017
There’s something liberating about stopping to watch a sunset. Something refreshing about planting your feet in the wet sand, and forgetting about the rest of the world that exists beyond the horizon line. Embracing feeling little and surrendering yourself to that grand painting of light in the sky, and watching it unravel the way it chooses to before your eyes. One might even call that brave.
I would.
As I witnessed one of the final sunsets of the year last week in Maui, I stood there in awe – my eyes wide and my heart full – curious to see how the sun would decide to make its exit that day. I was stunned by the beauty in front of me, but even more so, by how poignantly something as simple as a sunset bears the perfect opportunity for reflection, if you let it. Pink clouds turned to orange flames and what was once a canvas of blue became covered in gold brush strokes. I stared at the sun, and so many hints and traces of 2017 stared back at me.
The past year was full of rewarding triumphs and joyous celebrations, fresh faces and unexpected romance, growth, progress, failed attempts at long bred aspirations and new dreams discovered, endless laughter, and losses that took pieces of my heart along with them. As I looked up, I looked back – and somehow, I saw it all again in front of me.
Maybe I’m crazy for seeking clarity about life by gazing at the sky. Maybe I was just picturing things. Maybe I was just imagining New York’s skyline floating in the blue – my sweet escape for the past five years. Maybe the bottle of champagne my friends and I popped on the first night in my new apartment didn’t truly take shape in a Hawaiian cloud. Maybe I was mistaken when I saw my future soul mate’s eyes in the sun. Maybe my great grandmother’s face that I said goodbye to this past year didn’t actually emerge above the sea, and my mind – and my heart – played tricks on me.
Or, maybe life is more like a sunset than we might expect. Maybe we are too.
The more I think about it, the more I realize how 2017 shattered me a bit. But if it weren’t for the breaks in the clouds during a sunset, the sun wouldn’t beam through on its way down. In the same way, perhaps the parts of our hearts that chip and break away over time don’t necessarily leave holes or gaps, but rather spaces, for new light and life to pass through. I’d like to hope they do.
I think the only thing more beautiful than what you see in a sunset, is what you don’t see – the parts of the sunset that are not yet visible in the sky, that we can only imagine. It seems there’s even a sense of mystery that comes about when watching a sunset – a pleasant, freeing feeling of not knowing what colors, textures, tones, and shapes are going to appear next. Perhaps life itself can be as beautiful as a sunset if we let it be, if we don’t control it and just watch with awe as it unfolds.
As the sun sets on 2017 one last time, my wish is that we enter the new year feeling as open, reflective, inspired, little, humble, mindful, mindless, and even brave as we do when we watch a sunset reveal itself. And as we step into 2018 and leave the last remnants of 2017 in the dusk, I hope each day is filled with as much wonder and excitement as the first time we stepped onto the beach, squeezed the sand between our toes, and felt the water brush over our feet – and with as much presence, value and appreciation that we’d feel as if today is our last walk along the shore.
Because life is full of sunsets – but no matter how the sun decides to leave us each night, no matter what emerges in the sky before us, and no matter how life proceeds, by the end of it, we’ll all be basking in moonlight.
Happy New Year,
Love,
