Lunar New Year

Fresh Starts After Devastating Endings

Lunar New Year carries something I’ve grown to appreciate deeply: the reminder that time moves in cycles.

Not straight lines.
Not neat chapters.
Cycles.

Winter does not argue with spring. It simply gives way to it.

And if you have lived through devastating endings, that kind of rhythm feels both foreign and comforting.

Renewal Is Not Erasure

There is a misconception about new years of any kind. That they are about wiping the slate clean. Becoming someone entirely different. Leaving everything behind.

But Lunar New Year is not about erasing the past.

It is about honoring what was… and stepping forward anyway.

That feels more honest.

Because when you have buried your spouse, you do not “move on.” You move forward. Carrying love with you.

That distinction matters.

The Year of the Horse

The Horse is associated with endurance, movement, and forward momentum.

I like that.

Not reckless speed.
Not sprinting.
Movement.

Some years survival looks like galloping.

Other years it looks like walking steadily and refusing to sit down in the dust.

Either way, it counts.

Red Envelopes and Red Tape

Traditionally, red envelopes symbolize luck and prosperity.

I have to smile a little at that.

Because some years prosperity looks less like gold coins and more like:

• A job interview call-back
• A month where the bills are covered
• A little breathing room
• A quiet evening without crisis

Luck is relative.

Sometimes it is not fireworks.

It is stability.

And after devastating loss, stability feels like abundance.

Fresh Starts After Devastating Endings

The hardest thing about a devastating ending is that the world keeps going.

Calendars flip. Seasons change. Holidays arrive whether you are ready or not.

But Lunar New Year feels different.

It feels intentional.

A pause.

An acknowledgment that endings are real… but so are beginnings.

It reminds me that rebuilding does not dishonor what was lost.

It honors it.

Every job application submitted.
Every bill paid.
Every act of caregiving.
Every blog post written.

All of it is forward motion.

Not because the past disappeared.

But because love still exists in the present.

A Gentle Reset

This year, I am not making dramatic resolutions.

No radical reinventions.

Just this:

• Keep going.
• Keep building.
• Keep believing that renewal is possible.

Fresh starts do not require forgetting.

They require courage.

And if you have survived the unthinkable, you already have more courage than any calendar could assign you.

So here’s to cycles.

To movement.

To steady endurance.

And to the quiet kind of renewal that arrives not with fireworks… but with resolve.

Happy Lunar New Year.

May this next cycle bring momentum, stability, and just enough good luck to feel like progress.