It’s a new year, can you feel it? All the possibilities, hopes, and endless potentialities that live in the clearing fog of an unknown future. It’s a wonderful time of year, looking forward with anticipation, but it can also bring stress and worry that nothing will change, or worse things will change in a bad way. And while the reality is there will be unforeseen hardships and sadness— a new day, month, year, offers us a moment to envision the potential for a more beautiful future and the impetus to get to work in building it.

This past year for me, and many others, was filled with great things— I moved to a new city, I made a movie, I put out a passion-project book, I traveled far and wide. But it was also a difficult year where I had to say goodbye to beloved friends, endure an almost year long strike, pinch pennies, and deal with the exhaustion of a hectic life following dreams. And knowing this, as I stand on the ledge of a new year, I am choosing to accept the truth that there will be hardships ahead, but I’m also holding on to the truth, that even within them, there is an opportunity for goodness and beauty if I choose to work hard to accept the inevitable difficulties, recognize the good, and be a part of creating a more beautiful world around me.

- Nathan