Dirt in your skirt blog

December 21, 2012

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Margaret Schlachter

Tomorrow marks December 21, 2012, a date that many have pondered for centuries. Their were the Mayan’s who predict the end of a meso-cycle happens tomorrow, Nostradamus named it as well in his lost book as well as many other ancient texts all point at the same day, tomorrow. We are moving into the Age of Aquarius and out of our current age. Tomorrow the sun aligns with the center of the galaxy. This may all end up just being another Y2K or one of the many other dates that have come and gone. This one however has gotten me thinking maybe I watched too many episodes of Revolution in it’s first season.Maybe I have seen a few too many episodes of Doomsday Preppers, or maybe I have just watched a few too many NOVA’s. Either way it seems we are at a crossroads.

While on my run today, I had some time to think as I drudged through new soft snow still on the trails. I was alone in the woods with nothing but my thoughts carrying me. When I run sometimes my mind wanders and I let it take me where it may go most of the time, today I kept thinking about December 21.

What would happen if we suddenly woke up tomorrow and all was different, what if we had a mental shift in our society, most importantly what would happen if suddenly all our electronics no longer worked. I got stuck on this idea, and started to think how much of my life is stored on a hard drive, or a backup hard drive or a cloud storage system. As I thought more I realized my photos, my videos, my blogs and really my life story for the past two decades is stored online. It made me think that maybe it’s time to print a few photos out and have around in hard copy, time to print out what I have written of my new book.

As I thought further I thought about all the friends and family I always mean to connect with and yet push it off tomorrow, or passively read a Facebook status or email and think I actually connected with them. Then thought when was the last time I picked up the phone and talked to that friend or better yet actually saw them in person. I love the digital age and so many times thinks it keeps me more connected with my friends but as I ran today, I thought about how rich are these interactions and how true are they really. On that note when was the last time you actually talked to your family or saw them in person? Maybe it’s being far away from most of my family and the holidays but I really started to think about my daily interactions with people, realizing most are done electronically.

It is undeniable that even in my almost thirty years on this planet we have gone through huge change. I see around me all the time today people are looking for something different. Maybe I just hang out with a different crowd, but all around me I see people wanting to be more self sufficient and wanting more out of life while living with less. In the past year so many of my friends have dropped out of what is the “normal” society to pursue passions, most living a more enriching life, and a lifestyle many would see as spartan or lacking much material things. However, they are the one who are actually living life.

The change seems to be all around, and maybe nothing will happen tomorrow but years down the road we will look at it as a tipping point. I am starting to hear more and more people who once craved the large homes, now just want something smaller. People want to grow there own food, and several people on my street have chickens, I live right in the city. Change is happening all around us, whether we like it or not the way we have lived will most likely not continue.

December 21, is the tipping point. With all the natural disasters, economic disasters, and social unrest is this the path we want to continue on? I feel we all direct our own paths and that we choose our future much like the “choose your own adventure” books as kids. We can either choose the awesome ending or the one where we end up frozen in the cold. It is completely up to us and we can create the best version of our own life story, one filled with love, acceptance, and concern for those around us, or we can continue down the path of greed and want.

Mostly it made me think today, while running, when was the last time I really expressed my gratitude to all those in my life that truly inspire me everyday and not just in a Facebook post but in person or during a real conversation. As December 20 draws to a close I know  that I will be thinking and calling those that mean the most to me, just in case the lights go out tomorrow, hedging my bets.