By Ann Luongo
Content Writer, Marketing & Philanthropy

What is it about a new year? Why do we get so excited about it? We’re really just turning a page on the calendar, like we would at the end of any other month, right?

Well … yes and no.

While a new year happens every 12 months like clockwork, it signifies something special – something not really the same as, say, turning the calendar’s page from February to March or from June to July. It makes us FEEL a certain way, like a proverbial clean slate has once more been presented to us by the universe.

It makes us feel hopeful.

Each year in December, I take a little mental inventory of the notable things that happened over the past year, both positive and negative. In 2022, we lost three members of our family and extended family to illness. I lost my job. And my younger brother was diagnosed with cancer.

Along with the negative things, however, there were so many more good things. My husband finally left his job with the long, white-knuckle commute for a similar position only 15 minutes from home. My brother’s cancer appears (fingers crossed) to be in remission.  My husband and I celebrated our 30^th wedding anniversary, and we visited Italy for the first time. My 86-year-old father remains in good health. And I found a new job that I really enjoy.

The thing is, despite any of the challenges a year ultimately brings, I always – and I mean ALWAYS – look toward every new year with hope and optimism. I know the challenges will come; they always do. But the good things – the laughter with our friends in front of a campfire, the moments when our adult daughters can’t wait to share news with us, the little things that make up some of the best moments in life – will come, too.

We celebrate the end of each year and the beginning of the next for different reasons. Some people are happy to see the old year in the rear view mirror, while others welcome what they feel could be a fresh start – at life, at love, at self-improvement, etc. While there will inevitably be those challenges and speed bumps that life likes to toss in our paths, there will also be many triumphs, large and small, for which we can all be grateful.

May this new year bring us all peace, love, good health and many new adventures.