Hope. Elpida.
Y’all. Today is Sunday, November 22, 2020. 11/22/20. It’s only 40 days until January 1st. 1/1/21. All these numbers feel good to me. They feel in balance and even. I’ll leave the real numerology to the pros. That’s just an observation.
Regardless, this feels like a precipice, but it gives me hope in a very bleak time. The disturbing news that the US has exceeded a quarter of a million deaths from Coronavirus pandemic hit the headlines and my heart like one hundred 9/11s. And we could lose another 50,000 Americans in those next 40 days. What a gutting year for so many people. Such loss and grief. Inexplicable pain and mourning in a year marked by political upheaval, racial reckoning, and the general recognition that maybe the US hasn’t actually always been so great (not news to many BIPOC, immigrants, queer folx and many more). And yet, I led this post with ‘hope.’
I don’t pretend to be blind to the overwhelming shit and struggle of this year and this moment. The opposite is true; my eyes are wide open. And in the inimitable words (or cheeseball lyrics) of Feist, ‘i feel it all.’ It’s this reason that I have to have the audacity to hope. Hope that humans are better than we’ve behaved this year, and for so many generations. Hope that we feel an increasing collective responsibility to each other and to our planet. Hope that the future isn’t as somber as the present. Hope that we feel safe to love again, to feel carefree again, to get butterflies and share hugs and drink cocktails again. Hope to balance the protests with parties. Hope to feel the levity of life while continuing the work of anti-racism in every facet of our lives. Just as with gender, this life of ours must be lived beyond the binary.
And in a wholesale rejection of the binary, I welcome the idea of working towards a life of simplicity and comfort for myself, while maintaining an awareness and responsibility to my fellow humans. And to that end, I started GreekLikeMe so that I can share what makes me feel most myself. When I am exploring Greece and sharing myself in my element, I feel at home in my skin and on this Earth. So that’s why I want you to come to Greece with me. Let me show you around! Tell me what you want to see or do or eat. I’ll make sure we do it and do it well.
All this talk of hope brings me to gratitude. I’m sure Brene Brown would say hope and gratitude are connected somehow, but I’ll have to go back and read her books again to verify. I am so grateful to the people in my life who continue to support me in my dreams and pursuits. Family, friends, colleagues - your encouragement is heartening and I am so very appreciative. I promise that these posts will get more concrete, and I promise to talk more about travel and Greece and food and beaches and olive oil and wine and ferries and islands and mountains and goats and cheese. I promise.
Thanks for reading the ramblings of a hopeful human,
xo Anastasia