A Long December

"A long December and there's reason to believe, maybe this year will be better than the last." -Counting Crows

A Long December came on my ever-shuffling iPod as I drove away from a friend's house this afternoon, befittingly because I had just told her that writing more blog posts was one of my New Year's Intentions. Even more appropriate because I had already decided what I was going to write about: Hope and New Year's Intentions.

Five years ago, I wrote this: You Say You Want a ReSolution?

With all the learned lessons, shifted mindsets and reality checks I've undergone in the last five years, my outlook on this subject has taken a complete 180. Well, maybe more like a 170; I did write five years ago that I'm all for anyone trying to better themselves, any time of year. And I still believe that.

I suppose five years ago life was easier and less complicated. I was a grad student in Boston, whose life until that point had been very happy-go-lucky, and whose remaining years were full of nothing but promise. I hadn't developed a sense of empathy yet, and that blinded me to a lot of ways people felt treated by the world. I hadn't realized that as you get older, and life starts knocking you around a bit, sometimes you need a finite marker to hit a reset button and hope for something better. And a new year seems like a good time to do just that.

Without going into too much detail, 2015 was the worst year of my life until this point (still not saying much, I've had a very charmed life). But the last year was extremely trying nonetheless; I was shaken to my core. So, for the first time in my 27 years, I was really looking forward to the year being over, and the promise of 2016 for a clean slate. I made my New Year's Intentions and I had hope.

You've probably noticed by this point that I don't use the words "resolution" or "resolutions", I call them New Year's "Intentions." I believe the word "resolution" is too, well, resolute. It suggests that you must resolve to do this thing, and if you mess up even once, you've failed. And often times when you believe you've failed at something, you give it up; it becomes a lost cause. 

"Intention" takes that pressure off. It doesn't carry the same connotation of finality. You can fail over and over again at an intention, and it will remain just that: something you intend to do. So, I don't have New Year's Resolutions, I have New Year's Intentions. And even if I fail over and over at them throughout the year, I will still intend to accomplish them until December 31.

A new year brings hope, and in 2015 I personally learned how powerful hope is. Hope is the only thing that gets many out of bed in the morning, the only thing that convinces those who are suffering to hold on for another hour, another day, another month... It will get better. At its core, that's what hope is: The belief that it will get better. Even the most stalwart atheist can't argue with 1 Corinthians 13:13, naming the most powerful trinity of forces in a human being: Faith, Hope and Love. 

The greatest may be Love, but Faith and Hope are not far behind.

Here's to hoping in 2016.