For starters, happy new year! 🙂 The years go by so fast that it is really hard to believe a new year is upon us. The year 2020 was a year that presented many challenges but on the positive side, we can all learn very much from these challenges. It took many of us out of our comfort zones which I do not view as a bad thing because this tests our inner strength and can only make us stronger. I am not dismissing the fact that 2020 was a rough year on so many of us but just acknowledging that we can still find good things rather than only focus on the negatives.

New Year’s Day for me is a time of solitude and reflection. This is not to say that I stay isolated all day as I am sure I can recall previous years where I was surrounded by others on New Year’s Day but more often than not, I usually find a good portion of the day to just be by myself. I find that it is calming and it spiritually energizes me to look at where I am today while focusing on where I want to be tomorrow. Whether it is a new year or not, I always want to be progressing in life and if I am going to fall, I’m surely going to fall forward.

I also take the time on New Year’s Day to write a letter to myself. I cannot recall when exactly I started this New Year’s tradition but I am going to say this started at least ten years ago by this point. It is never a long letter but I tend to write about where I am at that moment on that day and also write where I predict I will be a year later. I find it really interesting to read the letter a year later because it captures that moment in time while also seeing how much changes from year-to-year. Although many areas of my life stay relatively stable, I do find my life from one year to the next can be rather unpredictable. (Ex: I think we can all agree that there was no way we could have predicted that we would be living through a pandemic right now).

Although many people might not be too fond of writing, I recommend taking some time out of your day to write a New Year’s letter to yourself. You can write about anything such as where you are right now in life, what you see in your future, and whatever is of relevance to you at the present moment. There are no specific guidelines as to how to do this as this is a personal letter that you are writing to yourself and for no one else to read (personally–I never share the letter with anyone). After you write the letter, you can seal it and store it in a safe place to not be opened until January 1st, 2022. I find the thought of what the first day of the year 2022 is hard for me to fathom right now but it is intriguing thinking about next year on the first day of the current new year.