“What’s comin’ will come, an’ we’ll meet it when it does.” ~J.K. Rowling
Dear Universe,
Back in early February of this year, I had the amazing opportunity to travel with my bestie to attend Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus tour.
We set off on a mini road trip to NYC, and as she drove, we talked about our hopes for the event.
Let’s just pause on that for a moment.
It feels like an eternity ago to think we traveled out of state to attend an event with thousands of other people. Life is so vastly different now. In fact, Oprah’s tour is now on hold—of course—and recently she’s taken to continuing her inspirational work virtually.
But I digress. My bestie and I both wanted to feel some major shift in our energy. Nothing was exactly wrong, but we felt how so many of us feel at the start of a new year—that we’ve been presented a clean slate and the potential for possibilities is endless.
And the fact that we were at the start of new decade?! Even more reason why we wanted to start our engines and get revved up to go. We hoped to leave feeling invigorated and ready to make 2020 our best year yet.
We arrived in NYC, checked into our room, then settled into seats at a champagne bar where we toasted to the next day ahead.
Looking back, I remember arriving at the event, sitting in my seat, and feeling that the energy of the arena was completely electric—after all, this is Oprah we’re talking about. I felt ready to soak in whatever goodness she was about to bestow on all of us.
Goodness started pouring out immediately. The first “aha” moment I had took place only minutes after Oprah started speaking.
As she greeted all of us eager, thirsty souls, she shared how the name of the tour came to be. Because 20/20 reflects perfect vision, Oprah was inspired to think about what it would mean for all of us to have perfect vision in our lives.
Yes! Wouldn’t it be great if this year—2020–could be the year where we all became extremely clear on our grand vision? What would it be like to see with clarity and know with certainty what our hearts, minds and souls want more than anything?
Yes, I thought! 2020 is going to be the year where everything we’ve been dreaming of crystallizes, and comes together in a beautiful, synchronous way. It will be the year where our intention feels so clear, that the Universe responds quickly and with maybe a few surprises sprinkled in.
As the day went on, more and more insights, inspirations and revelations were internally downloaded. At one point Oprah brought out former First Lady, Michelle Obama, to interview her and I furiously took as many notes as I could. I wanted to remember it all after I left.
I wanted to be able to look back anytime I felt my grand, perfect, 2020 vision slipping and I needed a jumpstart!
But here we are, just a few months later, and everything feels topsy-turvy. In so many ways it feels like the opposite of 20/20 vision.
Instead of zooming ahead, pursuing intentions and chasing dreams, we find ourselves stuck in bumper to bumper traffic—nowhere to go, and certainly nowhere to go fast.
We’ve been on stay-at-home orders and the pandemic has forced us to focus on what’s most important—our families, our health and our loved ones’ health, our jobs, our homes—everything we sometimes take for granted, but the things that we hold most dear.
And in the last week, we’ve shifted focus from from pandemic to protests over the senseless, tragic, deeply disturbing death of George Floyd. Our country’s heart is breaking. My heart is breaking. It all feels like too much.
I know so many of us feel helpless, frustrated and like we can barely hold it together. We feel like we are taking things one day at a time. The idea of a vision beyond next week, never mind the rest of the year, feels almost impossible.
But I keep going back to how I felt hearing Oprah speak. It was only four months ago. Yes, things are crazy right now, but is it possible to still set a vision for our lives beyond this? Is it possible that this time is supposed to help us refocus our attention on what really matters?
The end of June will mark the halfway point of this year. Maybe we haven’t arrived at the destination we hoped for. Maybe we find ourselves on a road we never imagined, one that looks unfamiliar. Maybe we even feel stuck and a little lost.
But I’ve come to realize the speed at which we move has nothing to do with where we’re meant to go.
Even in stillness, much can change.
That thought came to me the other day as I looked out over the ocean. The water started off so still, so peaceful, so calm. And yet, I was aware that things were changing underneath the surface—things I couldn’t see or fathom from my vantage point.
As if on cue, the water began to rumble, ripple, and revolt. The waves became grander, louder—as if to say, “Pay attention. Change can happen in any moment.”
Our internal engines don’t always have to be racing ahead of our physical bodies. Perhaps not having somewhere to go is the opportunity we’ve all needed to truly clarify our most perfect vision.
The time will come again to go, go, go. The time will come again to create, produce, and move forward with purpose.
For now, maybe 2020 is teaching us that having perfect vision means turning more inward than we ever have before. Maybe having perfect vision starts with looking deeper and deeper into ourselves, without so much outside influence drowning out the truth we so desperately need to hear.
Maybe what we thought was our perfect vision isn’t it at all.
Maybe 2020 is gifting us this time to reset us in a way we never could otherwise.
Maybe getting 20/20 vision means stillness, silence and a clearing out of all the muck that has weighed us down for too long now.
Maybe it means sifting and sorting what no longer serves us to make room for what would bring us the most happiness, and welcome in the miracles for our highest good.
Maybe it means uprooting our lives, our beliefs or our old “normal.” Maybe it means asking and inspiring others around us to do the same.
Maybe, just maybe, we will look back at this time as a blessing in so many ways.
Because maybe we won’t get to that “perfect” vision we’ve been dreaming of, but instead will leave this year with something much more important and powerful than that. Maybe we will finally see with more clarity than we ever have, vision so clear that it illuminates the darkness we’ve been avoiding, vision so clear that it forces us to step into what’s being asked of us, leading us to a destiny beyond our dreams.
Maybe.
With Gratitude,
