January 1, 2022

Happy New Year.

Today is day one out of three hundred and sixty-five. In what seems like the blink of an eye, another year has come and fleeted right before us.  Embracing the feelings of celebration and reflection that come with a new year, I pulled out my journal. A chance to fill the paper before me with the feelings that are etched on my heart. My mind whispering thoughts and my ears listening all at once. Today, as I reflected on the year that had passed before me, I read what I had wrote on New Year’s Eve last year. As the pen danced across the empty paper on this day one year ago, I had reflected on the deprivations that a global pandemic had bestowed upon me. I spoke about the fear of the unknown, the loneliness. The words that I had wrote on that page last year jumped out at me and tugged my every heart string. “This past year has felt as though it has brought me to my weakest, most lonely place of being. The world is broken, and I feel much the same.”

Today my pen danced upon the pages of that same journal. I reflected on the changes that had happened during the year; the hellos, the goodbyes, the good days, the bad days, and all the ordinary days in between. All of the memories I had made and the lessons that I had learned. And before I could catch the words that my mind had whispered, there they lie on the paper before me. “Twenty twenty-one has made me feel my weakest.” The strangest sense of déjà vu rushing over me. At the very same time, the shadows of all the mountains I had climbed throughout this past year cast a feeling of pride in my heart. Maybe as your reading this, you too are reflecting on some of the mountains you’ve climbed and battles you’ve fought throughout the past year. Take a moment to pause. To listen to the silence around you, to feel the beat of your heart. You made it. The days you thought that you would never make it through? You did it.

We’re all human, and nobody wants things to feel difficult or uncomfortable. Nobody feels at peace when hardships come our way. We get scared. And in case you hadn’t realized it, being scared is a healthy feeling. As humans we are hardwired to run from things that are scary or unknown, because that’s what keeps us safe. But throughout our lives, there is inevitably going to be challenging, scary, uncomfortable events and circumstances that come our way.  And, nobody has the right to compare or evaluate our worst days and moments. Each person on this earth is walking through their own life’s journey, their emotional capacities each at a different level of full. Two people might be faced with the same trying circumstance. One person might be able to shake it off, but the silent battles may weigh too heavy on the other person. They may feel so emotionally and mentally drained that the situation shatters their heart, and brings them to their knees begging to be saved from their breaking point.

Reality is: the bad, the scary, and the unknown is undoubtedly going to happen. We can’t predict nor can we prevent it. Some of you may be reading this article facing those kinds of circumstances at this very moment. But take this moment, right here and now, to remind yourself that you have made it through every other bad day and tough time that you have had to face in your life. That your success rate for overcoming the tough times is one hundred percent. And, what is it that gets us through all of the bad?

It’s the good. The things that make us smile, that fill our hearts with joy. It’s holding on so very tightly with every ounce of our being to the things that we have in our lives to be grateful for. And when the skies around us seem grey, the good gets lost in the darkness and muffled by the chaos. And sometimes, more than others, we have to make a conscious effort to remember to search for the gratitude, to look for the good. And in those moments when you’ve scoured the world around you, but you still can’t seem to find the good, that right there my friend, is your calling to be the good.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Let us all step into 2022 holding on to all that is good in our lives, being the good in each every life that we touch. May the new year give you many reasons to smile, bring you many wonderful memories, and above all else the courage and strength to make it through your worst days. Though a new year brings feelings of hope, motivation, and all things anew, you don’t have to change a single thing. Let this be the year that you love yourself for who you are and where you are. Build on your strengths, continue your growth, embrace the learning, and know that no matter where you are at in your journey; whether it be a high or a low, you are right where you are meant to be. Now more than ever this world needs who you were born to be. You were born to be a fighter.