2021

The New Year is my favorite holiday. I say this every year at this time, but it’s true. It is the most hopeful day of the year, and I love that most about it. 

I know there are plenty of people who scoff at the idea of a New Year resolution. People who cannot help but automatically roll their eyes when they hear anything resembling the phrase “new year new me.” I know many mock all the failed changes in diets, and ultimately unused gym memberships that were half-heartedly decided upon on heading into the New Year, but still I love it. 

I know that when the clock strikes midnight, and we leave one year in the seconds behind us, and enter into the new nothing actually changes other than the date. I know things do not automatically become better or new. The problems that existed in the year you are leaving behind will still exist in the year you are entering, and the person you were at 11:59 PM will still be the person you are at 12:00 AM. I know, I know. 

I still love it. 

In a world that so often feels like it spins to the tune of cynics sand skeptics it feels almost sacred for there to be a day where the multitudes pause and dare to believe in the possibility of hope and better days ahead. 

Jamie Tworkowski, founder of To Write Love On Her Arms, a nonprofit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide, wrote the following words for TWLOHA’s annual New Year campaign Welcome to Midnight:

Change takes more than a moment, but maybe there’s also something to this celebration of a moment, something to the way it speaks to us, something to the way we fear it, and dream it to be true. Maybe it’s the most honest moment of the year. 

It’s possible to change.

“Maybe it’s the most honest moment of the year.” 

In this fallen world that we live in it is almost our default to not be hopeful, as if we fear that we may very well be crushed by hope unfulfilled. But in this moment something in our humanity calls to us to dare to believe things could be better, even just for a moment. And maybe it is the most honest moment of the year. 

Because things can change. Things can be better. Hope does really exist. You can be different. And things can be made new. 

Yes, it takes hard work, time, and dedication, but that doesn’t mean it is not possible. 

I’m reminded of Romans 5:5 which says, “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

Hope does not put us to shame. 

You are not wrong or foolish to be hopeful for the New Year. Even after a year like 2020. 

When the clock strikes midnight, and we leave 2020 in the seconds behind us, and enter 2021 the world will not instantly heal. Everything will not instantly be fixed or better. But it is a reminder that change is still possible. 

2020 has undeniably been a year fraught with tremendous grief, devastation, vast injustice, and seemingly unending heartache. You are not wrong for feeling weary as you step into 2020’s last day. You are not wrong for feeling angry, devastated, or grief stricken by this year. You’re not even wrong for being skeptical of the New Year. There is not one person who could ever fault you for any way you feel leaving this year. 

And no, not one thing will instantly change once the date ends in 2021, but I hope you could look at the change in date as a sign that change is possible, even after a year like this. Especially after a year like this. I hope you can believe that you are not a fool to be hopeful. I hope you can dare to let your mind wander, even for just a moment, to the idea of better and brighter days in the New Year. 

If the progression of time tells us anything it's that today will not always be today, and things will not always be like this. Which means there has to be something better ahead. I know it. 

And until we reach that day I will never stop daring greatly to be hopeful. With every fiber of my being I will believe that hope will not put me to shame, or you. 

When the clock ticks between 11:59 PM and 12:00 AM I hope you’ll see all you have survived and overcome this year, and see how resilient you are. I hope you can feel proud of yourself for how hard you have been trying. I hope you’ll allow yourself to feel hope this New Year. I hope you’ll allow yourself to soak in the magic of that sacred, honest moment. 

I hope you’ll lean in and listen closely as the earth spins to Hope’s song. 

It’s possible to change.

Happy New Year. I am so glad you made it here. 

I’ll see you tomorrow.