Like many, I’ve been finding it difficult to write my normal New Year’s “Looking Back, Looking Forward” blog post. Looking back at 2021 is just too messy and confusing with so many conflicting emotions and dimmed expectations. And looking forward . . . ?

Of all the New Year resolutions I’ve read this year, my favorite is by writer Chuck Wendig.

“This year, I’m resolving to find the joy in the work, and to embrace that joy the way a person in the ocean would cling to a piece of floating debris.”

I’m with you, Chuck. Now has never been a better time for living in the present and squeezing every ounce of joy out of everything that comes our way.

“If not now, when? If not us, who?” Remember that old activist chestnut?

I never thought to apply it to embracing the here and now of joy. But honestly, it works. And it’s not as selfish as it might seem. If we fill our hearts and minds with the simple joys at hand, and stick with it despite all that would tempt us to turn away, the joy that fills us is sure to spill over to all around us.

My simple solution to a world gone awry! But hasn’t it done so again and again over the ages?

Maybe in times like these our purpose should be to focus on the joy at hand and multiply it.

I’ve written before about the dichotomy of wanting to “savor the world and save it” at the same time. It’s worth saving only because it’s worth savoring.

This year, I think I’ll just do the savoring. And trust that’s my small part of the saving.

[BTW – Chuck’s post about his resolution is a joy to read, for writers and non-writers alike.]