What a year it was, and a year it will be. I’m still not sure how we got to 2022, and yet here we are.
If there’s one thing I learned this past year, it’s that we’re all broken, but that’s how the light gets in. I witnessed grief and tragedy all around us, and while too many friends lost loved ones, it felt like we were always waiting for the next shoe to drop. We tried to reintegrate into a society more polarized than ever, and if you’re like me ended up feeling more isolated and alone than ever. I couldn’t help but think, who are these people around me, and are they experiencing the same world in which I find myself.
This past year was anything but easy, but somehow, we made it. I watched those around me pick themselves up over and over again, and when they couldn’t, others helped. We offered arms to hold one another up, and shoulders to cry on, and in the little moments in between we somehow managed to still find laughter and joy.
Because here’s the thing, it’s so easy to feel down and like joy doesn’t have a place in our lives during such difficult times. But radical joy is necessary. In feeling our joy, we honor those who have lost.
This past year, I learned that it’s okay to still find joy in the small moments, even when it feels like the world is crumbling. It’s okay to not be able to save everyone around you, and sometimes just a warm smile or kind text is enough. Sometimes, just being you is enough. And really, what more do we need than people who are willing to show up and be themselves.
When my friends lost loved ones, they did not pretend it did not hurt. They did not pretend to be okay, they showed us the truth, the pain, the grief. In that, I saw such a profound beauty. The depth of their love is something I hope we all experience in our lifetime. While I wish I could bring all those loved ones back, we are instead left to make sense of this sometimes cruel world.
With everything that has happened, I feel like heaven has never felt so close. I do not talk faith often, and I like to keep my spirituality pretty quiet, but this I’ve come to know. It seems like those who have left us can’t possibly be that far, they too quickly were taken from this life to the next.
And so, this coming year, I hope to keep finding joy in the small things, honoring those who have come before us and keeping their legacy alive by living life fully. I hope to love big and love hard, and I hope you too can find it in yourself to live each day a little more alive. I hope to travel, and sing, and dance and play. Work and write, read and run. I hope to share my stories, and in doing so encourage you to share your own. Because you’re worth it, and your story is too.
Happy New Year with love.
JujuB