This year is different. I can feel it.
There wasn’t anything particularly new or unique about the close of 2021 or the first few hours of 2022. It seemed like any other day in the wake of a pandemic. Quiet. Solitary.
Winter had set in, and the woods around our home were covered in a coating of snow. My wife and I drove out to run some errands on New Year’s Day, and as we drove alongside the nearby forest preserve, a red fox darted across the road.
It’s been years since that has happened. The last time I remember seeing a red fox dart in front of me, I might have been in my late teens (a good 15 years ago). I remember it because that was the first time something like that had ever happened.
Before he passed away, my grandfather was (and still is) an inspiration to me. He carried with him an easygoing demeanor and loved telling jokes. We’d watch low-budget horror movies together, and he’d tell stories about Chicago’s rich history, sometimes with personal touches if he were present for the events described. He was also a great lover of animals, so much so, that he knew where all the neighborhood cats lived. My grandfather even had a route, and when he was able, would insist on following this route in order to feed over a dozen strays as he went about his day.
Animals were more than just pets or furry friends to him. They were symbols and totems. The way you treated animals carried the most karmic retribution. As a devoutly religious man, my grandfather was also very superstitious (for good or ill omen). If you saw an owl perched on a tree outside of your window, that was probably an ill omen. My grandfather spotted an owl the night one of his parents died. If a red fox darted across your path, that was one of the best symbols for good luck. It meant a bright future and good fortune.
A quick Google search will bring up all sorts of symbolism for a single red fox sighting, mostly positive. But I don’t read too much into it. I like to think that seeing this good luck charm is more of a zeitgeist or a state of mind. As a country, we’ve had a dark couple of years. Political turmoil. A pandemic and lockdowns. Polarized thinking that further embeds this idea of “you’re either with us or you’re against us” in some of our closest loved ones and friends.
But 2022 is going to be different. I’m so certain of this not just because I had a wild animal sighting the other day (though that helps). It’s because I know who’s reading this newsletter.
I started this newsletter as a way to connect with writers and share in the struggles that come with such a solitary act of creativity. But my wife pointed out something in my last newsletter. She told me that everything I was saying was applicable to virtually any artform. Writers, artists, painters, woodworkers, crafters, etc. — we’re all in this together. (She draws and paints btw.)
The common thread is that, at the end of the day, we’re all putting a piece of ourselves into something wholly original, unique, and beautiful, and then we’re sharing it with the world. When I said I believe this year is going to be different because of who is reading this newsletter, I meant you.
We’re on this journey together. We’re lifting each other up and encouraging one another to keep at it. Everyday, we push that boulder up the mountain of life, hoping we can squeeze out a little extra time to create. It’s lonely, isolating, and forces us to sometimes exist within an echo chamber of our own making.
But someday, if we keep squeezing out that extra time to keep up with our creativity, we’re going to unleash something unto the world that’s going to have a profound effect on someone. That someone most likely will be a person we may never come to know, and we may never realize that we even had an effect. But that’s okay.
You’re making a difference and making the world a better place just by trying to put a new idea or a new piece of artwork out there. You don’t have to fill stadiums with fans; you just have to try. You just have to dare to create something.
My grandfather filled my head with stories that sparked a curiosity on topics I may have never explored otherwise. He also told me to pay attention when a red fox darts across the road, and look at me, I just made it the focal point of this newsletter.
2022 will be terrific. You’re going to make it terrific, and I want to hear about it.
Tell me about the projects you’re working on — finished or not — on Twitter.
Happy New Year,
Scott
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