Several weeks ago, I was visiting with my family and reminiscing.

“2016 was a pretty good year, wasn’t it?”, I asked the group.

My youngest sister spat back, “2016 was awful! Are you crazy?”

I know on the face of things, it might seem that way. All I see on social media these days are people complaining about the past year and its hardships, the many celebrity deaths and controversial political happenings. Personally, we watched our Grandma die a horrible death this year. We are still grieving and the holidays can always make those losses feel extra hard. But I can’t help but call out this year on the good stuff, too.

To name a few, in no particular order: I had an amazing girl’s trip with my bridesmaids. I had a lovely bridal shower thrown for me. We got married. My Mom beat cancer. We went on a super relaxing vacation. I started freelance writing, a longtime dream of mine. And then we found out we were expecting a baby. I can’t ignore all of the horrible and upsetting things that happened this year, to many people all around the world. But we have to recognize our blessings too. That’s the only way we can move forward, I think.

Life is overflowing with so much hard and wonderful, often at the same time and I really think we need both to live a full life. That said, I will not meditate on my sorrows, at least not for too long. I will not brush my joy under the rug because when I really focus on feeling grateful for what I have, the “good stuff” list only grows.

New Year’s Eve is my favourite holiday. There is nothing I love more than a clean slate and planning to achieve my yearly list of new goals. Entering into this year feels SO different for me. I anticipate 2017 to be a big year of growth and in truth, I have no idea what awaits me. In some ways, I feel like writing out a list of specific goals would be setting myself up for failure, or at least what I would deem failure. I don’t want to go into this year with a bunch of preconceived notions or expectations because I know that this mindset often leads to disappointment. How many times have we gone into a situation with an idea of how it should look and then felt let down when it didn’t turn out how we expected? For me, that answer is “often” so I’m trying to enter into the coming months with an open mind. It just feels like the right way for right now.

I’m taking on a huge new role in a few months, probably the most significant one I’ll ever have. I’m going to become a mother. I want to sit back and soak up what I have to learn this year. I feel ready to be a student in this new phase of my life. In some ways I feel like I don’t know a damn thing and that’s kind of exciting. I’m hoping this journey will crack my soul wide open and mold it into something new and different. I am fully ready to embrace this path and all of its unknowns. More love, less fear. More grace, less perfection. More peace, less hurry. Time goes so fast and I really want to be present for all that is to come. I want to really learn to savour all the moments of my life, and to own it as mine. That is my personal hope for 2017.

Happy New Year to you.