december 7

it's december and i just really hope you're happy. let yourself be. face the world with honesty and a simple, open heart. if you can, accept that the world has hurt you. but know that it has also been good to you.

gaze at the vivid colors of the christmas lights, bask in their glow for a little while. know that it reflects parts of your soul. the lights blink and shine, get dimmer and brighter. so you have felt sometimes. look around and see how everything is tinged with warmth and love. know that your heart would light up the whole world if you let it, and your soul burns warm enough to make other people feel at home, like your love is a shelter.

there is so much to come to terms with. change, who you've become, what you've lost, what you have yet to gain, hope, all the elusive promises and inevitable failures the future will bring. know in your heart that all of that is okay. you are going to find your way. you're brave. a new year approaches. with every sunset, you will have grown. with every sunrise you will only become more yourself.

while the snowflakes fall, know that you also are like no other. and yet as people pass you by, know that there are things that tie you together. you are capable of so much goodness and worthy of love. you always have been and will be, no matter what has happened in your life. if you look out for one another, you will never feel alone.

remember that this season. all the festivities, the trees, the singing, the lights, the food—whatever the reasons people might have for these, they're all celebrating the same thing. all of us being here. everything that's happened. hoping for everything we still want to happen. searching for some form of comfort.

so here, in the middle of everything, surrounded by lights, music, and people laughing, let your soul be calm. let it feel peace. let your heart hope as much as it wants. whatever your feelings are, accept them. cry if you must, but allow yourself to have some sort of happiness, to have some sort of celebration. let thanks echo in your heart. maybe you'll realize that you mean it.

"I will do my best to give thanks for gifts, strangely, beautifully, painfully wrapped."

—Rebecca Wells, "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood"