Finding Hope for the New Year

2025 has been a long year. So many things that we thought were staples of life – dependable, consistent, known – have been undermined, at a systemic level. And, perhaps for many of us, at a personal level, too. It doesn’t feel good to end the year in reflection and see and feel that. In fact, it’s incredibly depleting. 

How do we face entering a new year, knowing what we know about the force with which hard times hit? 

The Unknown feels vast and we can’t fight what we can’t see coming!

But let’s rewind the tape of 2025. Because, even as all the things that were damaging, demoralizing, and distressing were happening, other things were taking shape. 

There were surprises

Surprises that our December 2024 selves didn’t see coming. Happy surprises! There were moments in which we showed up in ways we never would have thought possible! A venture back into dating. Sharing a personal poem with a friend. Running a fundraiser successfully. Meeting a financial goal. Trying out a new recipe or activity. 

Falling and getting back up. Holding it together in the face of grief. Every day offers us a new opportunity to encounter a new surprise – out in the world and in how we show up.

I’m not going to tell anyone that 2025 didn’t suck, because in a lot of ways it might have. But it didn’t only suck, and we owe it to ourselves to recognize the fullness of the story – that even in terrible moments we still have the capacity to be unexpectedly wondrous. We have that kind of power within us to shift our experiences.

If we can acknowledge that capacity, then 2026 holds a whole lot of opportunity for us to keep meeting moments in ways that surprise us.