I can’t deny it, 2021 has been especially tough. I know that’s been the case for so many. My friend Pam sent me a great cartoon meme with everyone peeking around a corner using a long broom to poke open the door of 2022, perhaps to try and make sure it’s safe to go in. I feel more as though there’s an inevitable wheel of time that just continues on, no matter what. We have no choice whether or not we go through that door. The wheel of time doesn’t take any notice of how many people are struggling, or how much someone is suffering. You either go with it, or you suffer even more.

The ‘club’ of people who have lost one or both parents, by the nature of life and death, is enormous. It’s a club none of us want to join, but one that all of us will become a member of at some point. When your parent is taken from you suddenly, unexpectedly, and ‘before their time’, the shock is immense. Admittedly you don’t have to watch them suffer, but I struggle to accept that as the blessing that so many try to tell me it is, since it’s impossible to know what would have been.

However I choose to look at it (and I recognise that it is a choice, hard as that may seem), life inevitably moves on. I’ve found it difficult to match my mood to the many ‘Happy Christmas’ and ‘Happy New Year’ wishes that have been sent my way. And then, ridiculously, I feel guilty because I know that dad would be wanting me to make the most of the life I have, while I can! I have a feeling I’m not the only one with so many conflicting emotions…

So today, I choose hope. Hope that in 2022 I can spend time with friends and family, enjoy the outdoors, help horses and their owners through the work that I do, get my next book started (and finished!), and maybe even learn a new skill.

What do you hope for in 2022?

© Sue Palmer, The Horse Physio, 2021

Treating your horse with care, connection, curiosity and compassion