It’s up to you to leave 2016 behind

So that’s that. The year that was 2016 has now ended. It will never be 2016 ever again. You can stop jumping up and down, thanks. It wasn’t the best of years to be sure, but we can’t really stand to dwell on all the shitty little moments that made up the past 365 days. It’s time to focus. We have a lot of work to do. It’s 2017 now, and that means forward momentum.

Yes, I am aware David Bowie passed away. It was very sad. I enjoyed his music quite a bit. His final album was a fantastic finale to his career. He was too young, like so many of the other remarkable people we lost this year. But it’s 2017 now.

Yes, I heard that 2016 was the hottest year in terms of global temperature in 120,000 years. That’s alarming for sure. But it’s 2017 now. Yes, I might have seen something about Donald Trump being elected the 45^th President of the United States, and the country faces its most uncertain political climate in decades. But, it’s 2017 now. Those things have already happened. Let’s work with what we’ve got.

Soon we’ll have a new President, a new semester, a brand new set of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. You will have to dig deep within yourself to overcome life’s endless river of responsibilities and headaches. Finals will still exist in 2017, and you’ll still tear your hair out while studying for them. There will still be bad decisions to be made at parties or in bedrooms. Fights with your parents, friends, and co-workers will undoubtedly break out at some point or another, threatening to raise your blood pressure to dangerous levels.

Through it all, don’t be afraid to comfort yourself. If you have to read Buzzfeed articles about 90s nostalgia to survive the day, then read on. If the only way you can possibly calm your frazzled nerves is to listen to the Hamilton soundtrack for the billionth time, then pop those ear buds in. Perhaps you’re more of a Prince fan and you’d like to take a journey to the Afterworld by jamming to Purple Rain on vinyl. Listen to the man. Go crazy. If you can keep yourself standing, you can stand up to anything. It won’t matter, what 2017 will conjure up. You’ll be ready for it.

Don’t get me wrong, now. We should never forget 2016. It’s part of history. College students years from now will have to purchase overpriced textbooks dedicated entirely to the events of the past 12 months. We would do well to be the first students of this particular lesson. If we want improvement, we’ll pay attention to our past, and learn what it takes to make life better, or at least much less frightening. When you get down to it, that’s all most of us are holding out hope for.

You’ll most likely have to deal with many of the same problems you did this past year. But that’s just what it is now: past. Learn from it, and it won’t bleed into your future. As Muhammad Ali once said, “A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” He didn’t waste any of his life. Go make something of yours. You’re still here, stuck her like the rest of us, waiting around in the lobby for something to happen. That something better be you this year. You can be the one that steps into the great glass elevator. You can be the next music maker, the next dreamer of dreams.