Bye Bye 2019... Hello 2020

I'm not one to think the changing of the year changes much... It's just another day, but I have to admit 2019 was a tough year. Friends, family, and loved ones have faced challenges I could do nothing about. I've faced my own challenges which pale in comparison to what people I love dearly have faced with courage and aplomb.

 I've had to face my own limitations in ways I never anticipated, but there they were shining in my face refusing to be denied. There is only so much I can do, and sometimes even that just isn't enough. But that doesn't mean I'm not enough.

 As I look toward 2020, I can't help but think that next year has to be better, yet the realistic side of me knows many of the challenges are still in the middle, no where near the resolution, and in some cases the only, or at least likely, resolution isn't desirable anyway. Maybe, just maybe, I'll handle them better than I did in 2019.

 So, this isn't going to be a romanticized ring in a happy new year message. I wish I could get there, but I can't right now.

 Instead, this is a wish that we can all find the strength and the vulnerability we need to face the challenges that arise in life. It is a hope that we can embrace the good in life even when life hurts. It is a desire to be a better person to those in my life. It is an offer of love to a world that needs more love and compassion. It is an honest look at life without brushing over the bad to create an artificial good.

 Life hurts sometimes. Life heals sometimes. Life is neutral sometimes. But it is life. We have a choice everyday about how we navigate the lives we live.

 I wish you a 2020 filled with the strength to face your challenges, the vulnerability to reach out for help when you need, the compassion to offer others the understanding they need, the self-love to set the boundaries you need, the understanding to accept others as they are, and the love to bring it all together as you face a life that isn't always what you dreamed but offers the promise of a life worth living.

 Bye Bye 2019!

 Hello 2020!
T. L. Cooper is an author and poet whose work aims to empower and inspire through an exploration of the human condition. Her poems, short stories, articles, and essays have appeared online, in books, and in magazines. Her published books include a collection of short stories, Soaring Betrayal, her Silhouette Poetry Series, and a novel, All She Ever Wanted. She grew up on a farm in Tollesboro, Kentucky. She currently lives in Albany, Oregon with her husband and three cats.

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