When I decided to make Sunny my word for the year, I didn’t realize 2021 would take it as a dare. I had to do a lot of deep breathing just to get through the chaos and surprises of this week. I’ve kept my focus on the positive despite everything, and accepted the fact that the strange times we are living in didn’t evaporate on January 1st.

The best thing I’ve read on this topic recently was Neil Gaiman’s new year’s post. Like me, he wasn’t sure we should throw 2020 out, even though so many things happened that we wished hadn’t. Discarding the whole year would require us to throw out the good with the bad.

He bought a telescope in the spring, only to discover he wouldn’t really be able to get a good look at the night sky until August. (The short summer nights in the north don’t get dark enough for good star-gazing.) As a result, he ended his article with a thought I am clinging to:

And never forget that, sometimes, it’s only when it gets really dark that we can see the stars.

Neil Gaiman

His insight resonated with me. The sun is also a star, and we look to stars for light. They can help us get through the dark times.

So I’m sticking with Sunny. I’m going to keep looking for the light, no matter how dark it gets.

Maybe I’ll see some stars.

How do you feel about the new year?