My word for 2021 is shift. Like everyone I know, I’ve learned a lot, since this time last year. One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that change and uncertainty just are. Since I’m not in control of much more than which yoga pants, Zoom-appropriate top, and slippers I’ll wear each day, I needed to figure out how I could deal with all the change and uncertainty. That’s where shifting comes in.

For me, shifts involve acceptance and adjustment. I know I don’t have much control, but I have unlimited choices. I can shift. 

Some of my recent shifts have been pretty significant. Some have been tiny. Some haven’t happened, yet. And I’m sure I’ll make a lot of shifts I can’t even imagine.

A week or so, I tried to turn on my favorite lamp, but the push-button-thingy wouldn’t move. I was with Mom, decades ago, when she bought this lamp. It’s not a special lamp, but it’s special to me. So, I was bummed.

After much wiggling and jiggling of the fixture, it still wouldn’t work. There was a time when my first instinct would’ve been to head to a local thrift store, for a new lamp. However, in this season of shifting and learning, I turned to YouTube and then headed to my favorite local hardware (and MUCH MORE) store, Pierce and Company. Of course they had exactly what I needed to repair the lamp. The repair took less than five minutes.

That’s how shifts work a lot of the time. I can go from darkness to light in the blink of an eye, or the flip of a newly installed switch, as it were.

What kind of shifts have you made lately?