It’s only 10 days into the new year, and yet it feels like months have passed since Christmas.

Some of that may come simply from the long to-do lists that come with new beginnings — but I have a strong sense that this year it comes more from all that is going on in our individual and collective lives and the COVID-driven separations that keep us from holding each other up.

In this first full week of January, we’ve seen frustrations over the slow distribution of COVID vaccines; the horrific assault on our nation’s capitol and the legislators and their staffs working inside of it; a continued surge of homelessness; rains that just don’t seem to stop; and the end of the Seahawk season.

Not a single one of these things has surprised us. The distribution of the vaccines has always been understood as a monumentally complex task, and the wise among us know it’s going to take time and patience. What happened at the Capitol has been long in coming, a blind anger stoked by ego, misinformation, disinformation, lies, manipulation, racism and hatred - all of which have been methodically weakening the very separation of powers, checks & balances, and principles of citizen engagement that were created to keep such assaults from happening. Homelessness continues to grow, as the battle between individual rights and collective health rages on. We live in the maritime Pacific Northwest, so winter rain is part of the deal. And, well, we love the Seahawks, but who among us really thought they were at the top of their game at any point this season?

Woven into all of these shared challenges are the more personal ones: aging parents/partners/selves; cancer diagnoses and mental health crises; employment insecurity; parenting of babies and adolescents; regular old relationship issues; and more.

But the thing tipping so many of us into a painful sense of hopelessness and self doubt is the isolation we’re feeling because of the COVID crisis. In a more typical year, as the dramas of life unfold, we turn to each other. We gather. We hug. We laugh, we cry, we don’t let our “others” struggle alone. These days, we mask up, stay at home, don’t allow visitors, and postpone our celebrations.

My hope this week is that we can all begin a practice of creativity when it comes to finding new ways to offer support to our family, friends, and neighbors. So many of our more habitual ways of taking care of each other are off the table for a while…but we are a species that needs connection, and I’m confident that just as a virus can be novel, so too can our expressions of community and love.

This week, I’ll be reflecting on what I can do, with what I have, where I am — not only in spite of all that we see happening so early in this new year, but because of it. I want to find myself and all those I love (and even those I don’t) in a much better set of circumstances by December. My intent is going to be to reach out and hang on, hoping that our collective tendrils can keep our individual spirits tethered to the future that is waiting for us. Join me?