This is the New Year

Winter’s running itself ragged this year, whirling in with a fury of snow, a few mild nights, and back to freezing within one breath. And we’ve watched 2024 finish and fade, set our sights on the days, weeks, and months to come.

How is it another year? How does time keep flowing with a current that doesn’t seem to slow? The year had ended on an unexpected downfall after a beautiful year. I’m still staggering through this well-worn path off the beaten trail. It’s a foggy, sloggy day deep in the gray, and it seems to mirror a little of my mind at the moment. I keep thinking of the lyrics from the song “The New Year” by Death Cab for Cutie:

So this is the new year

and I don’t feel any different.

It’s amazing how the calendar can curl itself into another year, and everything seems the same: the sun still rises low in the east, the trees are still brittle and beautiful against the winter air, I still take my puppy out for his morning walk. Nothing feels brilliantly different or fresh, nor does it indicate a “blank slate” for resolutions and commitments to do better or be more.

Maybe we are allowed to take it easy on the turn of 2025. Some of us may be limping into it weary and ready for relief. Some of us are still slogging through the stretch of days that have left us upside-down and in situations that feel far from resolution. We could be giddy with excitement over what’s to come.

Wherever this new year finds us, let’s give some grace and breathing room to take it in however we need. This is the new year. We could feel brand new, or just the same.

Brand new, or just the same, still we welcome this year with open, albeit shaky, arms.

Welcome to your year. Breathe in. Begin.