The passage of time is a strange thing, is it not?

Moments drag, yet years gallop past.

Sometimes I look down at my hands, and there they are—the hands of my grandmother, fastening a button on my cardigan when I was small. Or I catch a glimpse of her in my mirror and wonder at how I thought she was so old back then, when I am still so young.

She has long since passed, though I carry her with me. We live now in a world she could not imagine, would not want to imagine. That lover of books and music and solitude, of swims in salt water and dinner by kerosene lanterns—she would find our pace dizzying.

I think we all find it dizzying sometimes.

We live now in a world where we are constantly in communication, yet so rarely in true connection. We are inundated with information, yet short on real knowledge. We can have whatever we want, delivered at a moment’s notice, yet we lack what we deeply need.

This year, I wish for you whatever you deeply need.

Where there is darkness, may the door remain ajar to let in the light.

Where you are broken, may you find healing.

Where you are tired, may you find rest.

Where you are fearful, may you find strength.

And when you find it all dizzying, may you also find a moment of stillness in which you realize:

This is it, this moment right now. This is all any of us ever has. Our lives are now.

We can drag the baggage of the past along behind us and grow ever wearier from the burden. Or we can release it and move forward. We need not wait until we have fixed whatever we fear is broken within ourselves, because the truth is, it never fully gets fixed. We were made to be broken, our hearts cracked open and expanding time and again.

So celebrate the new year, this turn of a calendar page, make plans and reach for your dreams.

But amidst the noise and celebration, the milestones marked and goals set, may you find the courage to be grateful for this moment right now.

My wish for you in the new year is joy and love and, most of all, presence.

Welcome, 2023.

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