Can We Find Hope in 2021 Even Though We’re Still in a Pandemic?

Remember back in March when schools closed and we told ourselves, “Just get to June and things will get easier”? But then summer hit, most camps were closed, and kids were still home full-time. We told ourselves, “Just get to September and surely schools will be open.” Then in August, many of us were hit hard with the news that our kids would be schooling from home. Again. Only this time it seemed so much more daunting because hope was hard to find given that there seemed to be no end in sight. Still, I told myself, “Get through these next few months and 2021 will bring relief. Let’s just get out of 2020 and let the New Year bring us some joy.”

2020 has ushered in non-stop jokes with funny memes, t-shirts about COVID-19 ruining a 2020 birthday, and even Christmas ornaments of toilet paper and masks. Anything bad that happened, we blamed it on the year. Even when it didn’t totally make sense. Like when two of my friend’s kids broke a bone: “Well, that’s 2020 for you!” or when our dog ran away (briefly, he was found). I literally said it was exactly what would happen in the year of COVID. None of these things had anything to do with the year or with the virus, yet the year took the blame; humor can help us to navigate through hard times and I have really leaned into that this year when faced with challenges none of us could have anticipated.

Nevertheless, we have all hoped 2021 would usher in a clean slate. That we would start anew. That we’d look back at 2020 in the rearview mirror and breathe a sigh of relief that we had made it through. I anticipated setting resolutions and goals, just like I do almost every year in some way.

But…

It’s hard to find hope in the New Year when it looks to be filled with so much of the same as the challenging year we all just came out of.

Ringing in the New Year with a continued modified lock down.
Ringing in the New Year with schools still closed.
Ringing in the New Year with COVID-19 numbers continuing to be on the rise.

Some cities have found some relief with schools and restaurants open. But COVID is still very much among us. Yet, here we are in a new year.

How do we find hope in the midst of this?

I hit moments or days where I don’t even have the energy to try to look for hope. I’m too focused on the fact that it’s somewhere around day 300 of this pandemic. Moments where I feel defeated because not even entering into a new year can change our reality. Moments where I very literally say aloud, “I am over this!”

But then the other night, right in the thick of having one of those days of feeling frustrated and hopeless instead of hopeful, it snowed. Unexpectedly. My seven-year-old daughter told me this December was the best of her life because it snowed. It has snowed in past Decembers and this round melted before the sun came up the next day, yet she still told me she didn’t know that such miracles could happen in COVID.

Wow.

There I was so focused on blaming any sadness or frustration on the pandemic, I wasn’t thinking about the small miracles that surround us.

It got me thinking how we may be entering this New Year in a different way than we anticipated. But we have to also realize how far we have come. We were blind this time last year in many ways. We had no idea what was to come. We didn’t even consider a “global pandemic” a possibility. We are stronger and so much more equipped for what life is facing us with right now. I know I will still scream, “I am over this!” on some days. But I also know that while I feel at my wit’s end with the pandemic or with my kids in the house nonstop or one of the countless other challenges we are all still facing, there are good things happening too. Even if we remain blind or want the frustration to continue owning us, the good things are there. 2021 is, if nothing else, opening our eyes a bit and recognizing the goodness around us.

Moms, that is exactly how we find hope for this New Year. We can focus on those wonderful things that are happening. Even if they are small.

Even if they disappear again before the sun comes up.

Blessings still fall, and they are still gifts. Here’s hoping for open eyes (and hearts) in 2021.