I like to think of Christmas Eve and New Years Eve as the forecast, the brink of something forthcoming instead of the end of the year. We stand on the cusp of better and brighter living. Of more hope. Of more adventure. There are those of us who have suffered loss, and I wish you blessings and comfort, but they too are on the brink of something new.

I have a friend who lost her husband this year in a tragic accident. He was not a senior in age so the loss was a shock. He was fit. He had family and friends who loved him. She struggled with his demise, and my heart pined for her to find some sort of peace.

It takes strength, after weeks of soul searching, to move forward after such a loss, and it takes way longer to find a sense of peace. But the strong find a way, and usually they wind up even stronger.

Not to discount the loss of a loved one, but this new path can be rewarding. It’s not a path of choice, but rather a path of necessity, and it is what we carve out of it that defines us and helps us to heal. I am incredibly in awe of this friend. While it’s been months, and this will be her first holiday without her husband, when I saw her recently she carried a strength about her that is stunning.

She has decided that she has a life to live. She is trying new things, listening to her heart, venturing into new realms she just now sees as enticing that she may have never tried before. She is giving new purpose to herself in this new role that’s been forced upon her.

This is how we face anything new. This is how we accept that one door has closed, in whatever capacity, and we turn around and open others instead of remaining frozen in place.

This is how we write, love, travel, investigate, study, and evolve with anything. Rejection of what we assumed was our mission is difficult . . . but it just might be an eve of something else. An eve of hope, and of more adventure.

Be worthy of living your life. Happy holidays, and blessings on this Christmas eve and new year beginning.