First, a plug for a great podcast out of Philadelphia’s WHYY studios, The Pulse. I just listened to the most recent episode, Vision 2020, and finished inspired.

As we all look at a new year and a new decade as a possible clean slate, I want to keep this question in the forefront of my mind: “How do I want to feel?”

I can have a childlike obsession with injustice. But the cold hard truth is, I’m an adult, and I know the world/life is unjust. Do I have the capacity to get over that? I really hope so. We can all be smart, and we can all be right (or self-righteous). But could I choose instead to be kind? To be happy? To stop waiting until the “right” circumstances finally present themselves (a futile dream)? Could I resolve in 2020 to feel how I want to feel, now? To keep striving for those things I want in life, and in the world, but, not allow those aims to stop me from loving my life and those around me, as is?

Yes, things in general could be better. There’s a lot of bad news geopolitically and environmentally, and it’s worth feeling outraged. Personal things could be better. Can I shed the habit of seeing everything as opposing dualities, and move forward acknowledging that I can be outraged, annoyed, upset, and worried, and simultaneously filled with joy, happiness, energy, creativity, and kindness? I’m a human being after all, and human beings are known for being complex, contradictory creatures.

Can I embrace the improv actor’s edict and respond to what’s in front of me with “yes, and … ” instead of “that won’t work because … ?”

May 2020 be the year I learn to say YES.