Is it possible to leave the past behind?

Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.

The ball drops and fireworks. Resolutions are made.
People scream and people kiss and is it possible to change?
Is it really truly possible to leave the past behind?

Welcome to Midnight.

We assign hope to many things. Each year, so many of us assign hope to this evening, to midnight, to welcoming in the New Year.

What are we welcoming? What are we celebrating? Tonight is night of reflection. Thinking about the past year, what we did, what we didn’t do, what we could have done differently.

We think of our hopes and dreams for the year to come. Things we hope to achieve or improve, or things we hope to leave behind.

Relationships, sobriety, buying a house, buying a car, having a baby, leaving a bad situation, a new job, healing, forgiveness…all of these things matter. It’s a night of hope. Filled with the possibilities of tomorrow.

One evening, a year apart.

Is there something to it? Is there something to this day? To the possibility of healing, of moving on…of leaving the past behind?

Wouldn’t that be something? If change were just that easy? If the past was so easily forgotten?

Midnight and we’re new. Midnight and the past erased. Midnight and we’re free.

But change takes more than a moment. It takes more than thought and hope and desire. It starts with all of things, but it doesn’t end there.

You need to make the change.

Tonight, I’m not going to think about the “what”. I already know the things I desire. Tonight, I’m going to focus on the “how”. How will I get there? What can I do differently? Or more of, or simply just better?

If your life has become unacceptable, I encourage you to do the same.

You probably already know the “whats”, just like I do. Don’t focus on that. You know what needs to change, you know what’s making it unacceptable.

Hope is a great place to begin. And a night like this, when the world counts down to celebrate a new year…the world has collectively assigned hope to this evening.

It’s the reason we celebrate.

It’s the reason we come together, and stay up too late, and probably drink too much.

We’re saying goodbye, while also saying hello.

And even just that…saying “hello” and “goodbye”…well, those are some powerful words. And that can be a pretty big step to make when you’ve never made that step before.

Each year brings challenges and hardship, some more than others. And maybe this year was particularly hard on you. I know mine was.

This is a goodbye I’m welcoming, and a hello that I’m afraid of. Fear of the unknown, of what will come…what could my life possibly look like in a year?

Make the choice. Take the first step. Shit. Half of the time, making the choice is the first step.

Move for things that matter.

Midnight and we’re new. Midnight and the past erased. Midnight and we’re free.

It is possible to change.

Welcome to midnight.