Immediately after the Election, I wrote an article regarding utilizing positive and service-oriented catharsis in the face of the upcoming four years. However, I failed to recognize the implications that the first year of a new President can bring. Most likely, it will be this first year that determines the tone and consequences of of the remaining three years.
Unfortunately, we're still in the purgatory of doubt and frustration; we can only assume what might happen and take place based off of the slowly completing cabinet and administration staff. During this first year, 2017, it might be tempting to play the waiting game, to see where this current Presidential road can take us, and then formulate our plans later. To settle on what courses of action to take only after the damage has been done. There might also be a considerable lack of enthusiasm to engage in any daily activities or conversations due to the lingering fear of who is sitting in the White House after our previous President's legacy.
Therefore, it is important to face the new year with angst, hope, sass, fierceness and determination. 2017 cannot be the year where we wait to see how things turn out or what might eventually happen. It also can't be the year where daily life and accomplishing personal and community goals fall to the wayside.
Engage your neighbors and peers immediately with what their plans are for this year; what their goals might be. This can keep the spark of hope alive for both parties; knowing that one person is working towards an accomplishment, and that there is at least one person who is fighting right along side them.
Engage in self-care and promote self-care to those around you. This can take any form; music, television, sleep, cooking, exercise, writing out stream-of-consciousness thoughts in that journal you may only use once in a while for this very reason. While it's important to not give up fighting, don't let the fight and drive exhaust you to the point of defeat or misery; 2017 should be about renewed self-appreciation, self-discovery, and maintaining a healthy balance between working towards causes you believe in, and also centering yourself on your own goals and well-being.
Ultimately, this is not going to be a long article filled with specific steps or inspirational quotations in order to motivate you to face 2017 with a brave face. This article is merely meant to serve as a reminder to never let your face fall from the rising sunlight of each new day 2017 brings. That, with these new days, there will be new challenges, new people to meet, laugh, and argue with, and each day will end when you say it will end. If it ends at 9:30 P.M. because your day has made you exhausted from work, demonstrating, traveling, protesting, or discussing and turning over issues one at a time, it will end at 9:30 P.M. If your days are meant to be spent working, reading, professing, or writing until the greenish-blue light of the next day begins, with just enough time to squeeze in a nap and dub it "sleep", that will be your day.
2017 will be what you make it. But you should fight to make it yours. To make it your year of memories, travel, photographs, food that either failed or succeeded as you diligently followed the recipe, coffee mugs sitting by the sink with dry teabags clinging to the sides, remnants of what fueled late night conversations, candles burning the scent of cedar into your upstairs, or the late-night drives you take to the outskirts of a town you thought you knew so well, but could still surprise you. Make it your year of demonstrating for your cause until your voice can barely raise above a whisper, of poster-board littering your bedroom for new protests, multiple tabs open in your browser filled with information about a mission you are passionate about, meetings at odd times in odd places with friendly people who are all pushing for the same goals as you are. 2017 is the year to look back on and smile at all you fervently worked towards and for without hesitating even for a second; it is the year that should leave you feeling personally triumphant.
