Keeping Hope Alive this January 2022

Bundled against the cold, but happy to be in the sunlight after an endless procession of grey days, I made my way along the sidewalk.  When I spied this snow-covered vine, I had to stop, remove my mittens and quickly snap this photo.  If you look closely you will see that there are plenty of tiny buds waiting to open, a clear promise of spring.  Of course, spring is not nearly here yet, but the discovery of buds was a sign of hope for me on what was the coldest day of the year so far.

To be honest there are moments when hope seems a little hard to come by these days.  As we navigate another COVID wave, (I don’t even know which one at this point!) I am searching for any glimmers of strength, light, joy, that I can find.  I suppose we are all experts at navigating the pandemic at this point, but are we really?  Is it that helpful to “doomscroll” (reading article after article about the direness of the situation)?  The news and social media, of course, are designed to get us to click on sensational and fear based stories.  And while I’m not denying we are in a pandemic, we also have to be careful with how much we let ourselves be influenced by the media’s rather negatively biased view of the world.

And while the world (Ontario for sure) seems to be stuck in some kind of repeating loop and there is definitely uncertainty, I think it is helpful to get back to basic self-care practices: making sure we are sleeping, eating healthy, exercising, reading or studying or creating something uplifting, getting fresh air every day, meditating or a yoga movement practice, maintaining some kind of routine and safe socializing.  I am not making any resolutions this year, but I am hoping to keep myself grounded and try to avoid excess anxiety about the pandemic by continuing to stay present in the moment and grateful for it.  I would be curious to know how you are keeping hope alive this January.