2016 Ain't the Worst Year Ever, Gang!

Basing an opinion entirely on the outrage of the almighty Internet, one might come to the conclusion that 2016 was the worst year in the history of time. Perhaps my glasses run a little on the rose tinted side of the spectrum but I’m not too sure I buy into the hype.

Maybe the magical lens through which I view the world clouds my logical judgement and my mildly Yoda-like state of Zen gives me a different perspective but from where I sit, I view the last 365 days as some really freaking awesome ones. Some of the best, really.

(Representing the dearly departed Starman Bowie, at a New Year’s costume party.)

“Why?!” you demand in outrage. I hear you, disenchanted masses. I’m not blind to half the country having their hearts crushed in what has been a very trying election season; the seemingly endless string of precious celebrity deaths from David Bowie to Carrie Fisher to Prince to Alan Rickman; the rapidly deteriorating relationship between the government and the marginalized populations of the country; the growing international tensions; the Dakota Access Pipeline; etc. I know that when you look back at 2016 — it’s bleak. I get it. But what I’m saying is — you’re looking at it wrong.

See, in Numerology — one of my many magical skills — sets of numbers get combined into one singular digit. So, 2016 becomes nine (2+0+1+6 = 9). Each single digit holds a certain vibration. The number nine is about completion, wisdom, and healing.

Healing. Ahh, that’s it. For a moment, I invite you to imagine what your skin feels like when the body does that amazing thing of repairing broken tissue. A scrape of the knee after a fall from a bicycle or a new tattoo or sunburn — itches, doesn’t it? A really deep cut sometimes tingles while it closes itself up, right? Well, that’s a lot like the nine year.

Yes — it has been a trying year. And I’m certainly not trying to diminish anyone’s pain and suffering here but what 2016 offered us all was opportunity for change and growth. We can push back and resist against that change and in turn view the year as The Worst Ever in the History of Humanity. Or! We can roll with the punches and use our losses and heartache as a launching point for creating a new future.

And that’s the key here — the future. Because while a nine year is about healing and endings, 2017 is a one year and brings a clean slate. The one year is the foundation upon which we set the next cycle — I want mine to be filled with adventure and joy so it’s time to let go of the past and swim off into the vast unknown expanse that is the uncertain future — what do you want YOUR next nine years to be like?

And so, along with 2016, I hope you leave behind that which no longer serves you and embrace this year for what it truly was — the destruction that breeds creation. It’s time to rise from the ashes, Oddballs! Happy New Year!