I’ve recently seen a lot of memes on social media about how much 2016 has sucked. And additionally, how much people can’t wait for 2017. I think it is a given that 2016 has indeed “sucked” - both personally and globally. I’m not sure what personal issues occurred to all of you, but globally there has been a lot. The death of an innocent gorilla, a child lost to curiosity in the Disney gator attack, the terrorist attack in France, the shooting in the Orlando nightclub, and finally the most discussed of all - the USA presidential election ultimately ending with Donald Trump as our future president. And that’s only a few things.

But no one seems to talk about all the great things that happened this year (yes, I can’t believe it either, but good things did happen). Acid pollution is almost back to the level it was before industrialization in the 1930’s. Death by malaria has declined by 60%. There are no more known cases of Ebola in West Africa. America has seen the lowest unemployment rate in almost 10 years. And that’s only a few things too.

The thing is, good and bad things happen every year and changing the calendar isn't going to change whats coming. Trump will still be president and innocent lives will still be lost. But pollution can still keep declining, death by disease can still keep declining, and unemployment can still keep declining. Life doesn’t know the difference between the years, life will happen as it happens. Believing that 2017 will give us a blank slate is choosing to close your eyes to the past. It is running away from what has happened and I think we have all learned in our lives by now that running away is not, and will never be, the solution because even a blank slate has chalk stains from what was written before.

So yeah, this year may not have been the best it could have been, but it also hasn’t been the worst. Use the new year to make positive changes. Think about what you could have done to make 2016 better and use that to make 2017 great - and that includes our personal issues too. If we allow ourselves to think that the stroke of midnight on December 31st will automatically correct everything going wrong, 2017 will be a slap in the face for us all. And while we should all move on from the bad in 2016, we should never forget them. Because without the bad, we would never appreciate the good.