4 Gifts To Carry Into the New Year

The earth has started its next rotation around the sun and a new year is upon us.  And yet we haven’t left the awfulness of the past year behind. We’re still trudging forth in the throes of the pandemic war and all its casualties. It’s not going to look too different for a while but hopefully with the vaccine we will turn the corner. But right now, it still feels the same.

There are things, however, we can do to delineate a new time period. Here are 4 ways to move into the new year with encouragement.

1. Hope: We can carry the torch of hope into the field of life. Hope helps us see the potential and possibility for better days and times ahead. We know the one constant aspect in life is change; and so not even the bad stays the same. Our pain, grief and struggles shift and eventually ease. Maintaining a sense of hope helps get us through our challenges. It is a coping too that keeps us afloat while we wait and work on getting those clouds to part. Without hope, we succumb. With hope we survive and eventually grow beyond our difficulties. Hope is built into resilience which pushes us on forward with renewal. Specifically now, with the vaccine here, the light at the end of the tunnel is beginning to appear. We will slowly come out of the darkness into the beginnings of {new} normalcy again.

2. Silver linings, not resolutions: We can hold onto some of the positives we’ve discovered from a most difficult year and bring them into the new year. More family time, meals with one another, down-time, healthy food preparation are just some good things that have come out of the bad. We’ve had almost a year of doing things differently so we might say they’ve become part of our {new} lifestyle. Taking my laptop up the stairs to ‘meet’ my clients and groups online for sessions throughout the day has been wonderfully convenient, and as I’ve been saying throughout, “I can get used to this.” No travel time, no hecticness, simply easy peasy. In all honesty, I do believe it’s better to see clients in-person for such intimate work, but this definitely exceeded my expectations for successful counseling sessions.

3. Immune boosters: As we’ve seen and learned, a strong immune system is vital in armoring ourselves against the invasion of dangerous foreign agents that feast on running amuck in our system. We optimize our chances of being healthy by investing in building up our system. Otherwise we’re like sitting ducks waiting for the vultures to prey upon us. We’ve also learned this year that we don’t have the control we like to think we have. But to build ourselves up can only be an added protector and benefit. So let’s reframe our ad nauseam resolutions such as weight loss and exercise to inputting healthy habits that will boost our immune system, giving us the best chance at staying strong and healthy. We are endowed with the gift of life, let’s prioritize and maximize our health.

4. Ourselves: We carry ourselves into the new year. We all deserve a big pat on the back. We did what we needed to do, what we were called upon to do. Many of us have experienced tremendous loss of all kinds and although we are still hurting greatly, we move forward, one small step at a time. We take ourselves into a new day, a new chance for betterment and healing. We are a gift and we all have light within us to shine forth.

Let’s take this opportunity for renewal and growth, taking our place on earth with gratitude and fortitude and awaken ourselves to a new cycle of life.