Happy new year, all! Tonight marks the beginning of 5775 on the Jewish calendar, and like any new year, it means a brief moment of reflection.
It’s a funny coincidence that this new year marks a time of change in my life. I’m sitting surrounded by boxes, getting ready to leave the place I called home for the past year. It wasn’t a long time, but enough to build my own little nest of comfort here. I spent all day traveling around Rochester getting my last minute errands done, but moving still doesn’t feel like it’s happening.
Outside of thinking about my big move, it’s important to look back on my year too. A lot has changed, and I accomplished a ton. I committed to running a half marathon and completed it, and started to establish a healthier lifestyle. I’m about 10 pounds lighter, but still have a long way to go. I made new lifelong friends, and learned a lot about myself personally and professionally.
I hope to take those lessons with me as I move on and adventure through 5775, and I’m looking forward to the excitement the new year will bring. There will be ups and downs, more races to run, new friends, and new experiences that I’ll hold close for the rest of my life.
I hope that my new adventure and a new year can bring me closer to Judaism. It was such an important part of my life before I left for college, and it drifted away from me due to a combination of proximity to a temple, not being close to my family, and re-prioritizing my life. I celebrated the high holy days with my family, but it became harder and harder for us to get together. It’s sad, really, that other things became a bigger priority than family and religion to us and to me.
In an attempt at a healthier lifestyle, I’ve noted that I need to focus on my brain, too. Being a part of a community, one that I was a strong part of growing up, will not only be a great introduction to a new city, but help my mental health.
L’Shanah Tovah! I’ll kick off 5775 with one of my favorite readings:
Someone took her brush and speckeled the canvas yellow. A boy opened the green, took off his shoes, and skipped footrbints from one end of the picture to the other. A man, out for a walk, couldn’t resist plunging his hands into the can of brilliant blue and smeared his name diagonally across the image. The woman, who had been watching, took a thick red marker and drew a frame around the work of the others.
What is your picture, and why did you paint it that way?