January always provides a welcome opportunity for a fresh start, to turn the page on the previous year and start anew. This past month, this has felt especially true. As the winter wears on, the ringing in of the New Year felt like a moment of lightness – of real promise and potential.

Although our daily reality doesn’t look very different – we’re still working from home, zoom-ing with family, and bundling up to brave a (rare) outdoor brunch here in the city – it feels like the light at the end of the tunnel is shining brighter.

Or maybe we are just better equipped to see it, armed with the positivity that a new year, and the promise of change, brings. Some beautiful words spoken by an incredible change-maker, and the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, have stayed with me since she spoke them.

When day comes we step out of the shade,

aflame and unafraid,

the new dawn blooms as we free it.

For there is always light,

if only we're brave enough to see it.

If only we're brave enough to be it.

– Amanda Gorman

While 2021 will surely bring its own new and continuing challenges, there is always kindness, optimism, and opportunities for activism. There is always light.