In the new year, I hope you learn to walk away from what is not meant to be yours.

I hope you learn to wave goodbye to the things that don’t belong in your story, walking away with your head held high and your feet facing forward, stepping slowly but surely towards the things that were meant for you, the things you don’t have to force so much but rather fight for in a way that keeps you feeling alive and not drained.

In the new year, I hope you learn to walk away from who is not good for you.

I hope you let them go with grace, dignity, and lightness, watching their essence fade into the backdrop of your life as you open your hands and your heart to someone new, someone better for you, someone who is meant for you. I hope you learn to walk away from these people who treat you like an intermission rather than the main event, standing tall and proud while you show them the exit door to your life.

In the new year, I hope you learn to walk away from the toxic ideas you’ve held about yourself.

I hope you learn to look at the person in the mirror with the same love you’re giving everyone else. I hope you learn to treat yourself with respect and kindness, forgetting about the people taught you that you deserved any different.

In the new year, I hope you learn to walk away from expectations that you have no interest in fulfilling.

I hope you learn to reject a life that is not made by you, for you. I hope you learn to dismiss the opinions of those who do not have your best interests in mind. I hope you learn to tune out the endless loop of society’s ideas of what you should be and what you should do and I hope you make up your mind about who you are, on your own terms.

But most of all, in the new year, I hope you learn to run towards what lights your heart on fire.

I hope you grab onto the people who make you see this world differently, in a better, more positive light. I hope you hold them and love them with all you have. I hope you allow them to do the same to you.

I hope you find songs and ideas and art that make you feel glad to be alive, right here, right now, so you were able to experience them by existing at just the right moment. I hope you find passion in everyday life and I hope you find adventure where you least expect it.

I hope you let passion and hard work and kindness be the guideposts of your life. I hope you realize that by working hard, letting passion pour, and spreading kindness to everyone you meet are some of the most powerful and rebellious things you can do as a human being.

But to do these things, you’ll need to walk away from the bullshit and embrace the unfamiliar. The unknown. The free fall. You’ll need to feel scared and lonely and unsteady. And you’ll need to trust that all the pain and discomfort is for the best.

And I really hope you do. I really hope you learn to walk way.