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Ringing in 2025 with gratitude and hope |
by Cheryl Dizon-Reynante
Happy 2025 to you and yours! As I reflected on the events of the last year, I couldn’t help but think about how twenty-five years have passed since the turn of the century. If you are old enough to remember the time leading up to the year 2000, you’ll recall that everyone was worried about global power outages and widespread computer system failures. A quarter of a century later, the world got through that worry fine, but humankind went through a pandemic, conflicts between nations, and countless significant events.
In light of continuing uncertainty and worry, let’s remember that the start of a new year brings hope and excitement. To get into a positive frame of mind, it helps to remember things and events that we are grateful for. To get things started, here is a list of things that happened in 2024:
- According to the United Nations, the number of global child deaths is at an all-time low.
- The cancer death rate in the UK has fallen significantly.
- The Olympics took place in Paris, France.
- In April 2024, millions of people stopped to observe the great North American eclipse.
- Scientists have made advancements in Alzheimer’s disease treatment.
- The Iberian lynx is now off the endangered species list.
- Mexico had its first female president take office.
- Some US states agreed to eliminate the medical debt of millions of Americans.
- In Manitoba, primary and secondary schools placed restrictions on smart phones in the classroom.
In addition to practicing gratitude, one of the best things that we can do for ourselves is to practice good coping skills that can get us through challenging times. Here are a few ways to do just that and build resiliency:
- Find a silver lining and look for the good things in your life (e.g., living in a first-world country, having free healthcare, having clean water to drink)
- Practice mindfulness/meditation and/or prayer daily, even just for five minutes. Self-compassion meditations can be found athttps://self-compassion.org/
- When feeling overwhelmed, break tasks or time down into manageable chunks (Instead of thinking, “I have to exercise for 30 minutes today,” break it down into, “I will put on my workout clothes” then “I will put on my shoes,” then “I will put on a workout video.”) Thinking in terms of smaller tasks can increase motivation.
- Distract yourself from stressful thoughts in a healthy way (e.g., cook or bake, do a craft project, watch a funny movie, work on a puzzle)
- Sit with your uncertainty for short periods of time by confiding in someone you trust or writing your thoughts down (you can choose to keep a journal or rip up the paper after you are done)
Cheers to a healthy, happy and peaceful new year!
“I hope you realize that every day is a fresh start for you, that every sunrise is a new chapter in your life waiting to be written.” – Juansen Dizon, poet and writer.
Cheryl Dizon-Reynante is a licensed therapist with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association.