Slices of Life Wishes for the new year (part one)

Slices of Life

Wishes for the new year (part one)

By Jill Pertler

Happy 2026 everyone! I started to put my thoughts about the new year into words, and what do you know, it grew into two columns. Here is the first. The second will appear here next week. All the best to you (all 52 weeks, all 365 days) of the year.

Before I begin my (self-pronounced) thoughtful soliloquy on my wishes for the next 12 months, I need to put something a little more heavy, albeit light-hearted, out there:

How can it be more than a quarter century since we celebrated the new millennium? Remember what a big deal that was? The year 2000. The internet was going to crash. The world was going to end. Maybe both.

Instead, The St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl; The Yankees won the World Series. Bill Clinton was completing his second term as president. The TV show, The Apprentice, wasn’t yet on air. The calendar turned from (party like it’s) 1999 to 2000 and life went on.

And now, 26 years later, it feels like it was just a blink ago.

But, we aren’t here to rehash the past. That’s gone. Today, let’s focus on the future, or better yet, on today.

As we move into a new year, I want to take a moment to wish you the very best in the coming months. I wish you all the things money can’t buy. The things we all, innately, have inside us: hope, tranquility and dreams for the future.

I wish you the best joy, and not only joy but jubilation – the kind that rings inward toward your soul and makes you smile without realizing. I wish you joy on steroids.

I wish you the best kindness. Kindness from and toward others, but just as important, kindness toward yourself. You deserve grace from judgement that only you can give yourself. Do that. Be kind to yourself.

I wish you the best passion, because passion is what drives life. Pursue what your soul desires. Pursue what literally makes your heart beat a little bit faster. Look inside yourself and identify your passion and pursue it with abandon.

I wish you the best trust. Trust in the future. Trust in others. Trust in yourself. Trust that the best is yet to come. Believing it and trusting in it is halfway to the goal line.

I wish you the best peace. Once you find peace, you truly lack for nothing else. It is the most meaningful goal any of us can pursue. And here’s the best part: peace is ours for the taking. It is a mindset. It requires trust (referenced above) and little more. Once you establish it, you will know the truth with a capital T: peace is literally freedom.

I wish you the best perspective. Today might seem heavy and large. But five years from now, you might yearn for its lightness. Most things in this life are fleeting, but it’s hard to comprehend that in the moment. Perspective puts it all in perspective.

I wish you the best purpose. I’ve come to believe it is one of the commonalities we all share: a search for purpose. What are we here to accomplish? What are we here to do? I wish you answers to these questions, and the actions to pursue them.

I wish you the best harmony. We are all part of the bigger whole and this whole works best when we all work together. I hope we all can become part of the greater whole to create a spectacular harmonious chord that is heard around the world. It’s melodic tone will be wondrous.

I wish you the best worth. Whether you recognize it or not, you are so very worthy. You have value that is infinite. You were born worthy and nothing you have done since can make you less or more worthy. It is cemented within your very creation.

With that, I will sign off until next week. I have an equally great list of “bests” still to come. Until then, make every day the best day you can. You’ll never get another today. There are no do overs. Breathe. Live life to the fullest.

(Jill Pertler is an award-winning syndicated columnist, published playwright, author and member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Don’t miss a slice; follow the Slices of Life page on Facebook.)