It’s really ok if at this point, you are simply surviving. If the only energy you have right now is to survive, you are not alone. Considering all we have been through as a collective, and all you have personally gone through, the fact that you are still alive, and breathing is a victory.

(Please seek medical attention if your survival is more about clinical depression than just this messed up world, and if you have any thoughts of self-harm, please get help immediately!)

The human experience is hard. For many, it seems the human experience keeps getting harder. It seems there is more violence, hatred, and division, and the things we once  took for granted are no longer.

We can no longer trust our governments (if we ever really could). Corporate greed is eating us alive. Those we once thought to be friends have fallen away. We’ve learned horrible things about each other and have seen humanity at its absolute worst.

We might try to comfort ourselves by thinking things cannot possibly get worse and will soon get better.

Don’t bet on it. As a species we are still on the uphill climb of our collective evolution. It may seem the bottom has fallen out – but not even close.

Perhaps some Divine or Other-worldly intervention will show up and set humanity back on its right path……but many have even given up hoping and dreaming for this kind of support.

We might be on our own. That alone is a terrifying thought. You mean humanity is being left to their own devices? That sounds like a recipe for failure.

But truly, we don’t know. Maybe humanity will suddenly wake up and decide to be kind.

I doubt it.

This, however, does not mean we are doomed. We are only doomed to the extent that we turn away from kindness and turn toward evil. For most of us, this is not a choice.

So we continue on. We breathe. We get out of bed each day (and if not, that’s ok too). We feed ourselves. We pour ourselves a cup of coffee. And we put one foot in front of the other toward whatever tasks are before us and if there are no tasks, we allow ourselves to simply be.

And…holidays are hard. The end of the year is hard. For many, this time of year is a trigger.  Some suffer for lack of sunlight and warmth. Many find themselves alone while others are gathering. We don’t always feel like celebrating and the turning of the new year doesn’t necessarily cause us to hope.

Yet, we survive, and if that’s all we’re able to do, that’s ok. Life is carrying us onward regardless.