2018 is swiftly winding down, and we're all counting the days until we get to don our sparkly dresses, pop champagne, and get a New Year's kiss. The thought of a completely new beginning thrills me. Who will I be in 2019? Will this be MY year? Will I finally understand my purpose in life? Is this my turning point? And although I cannot answer these questions, and I may not ever be able to, I can continue to hope that 2019 will be kind to me and to the world around me.

2019, please be a year of happiness found within simplicity.

Be the year that makes people fall in love with simply living again. Let us find the beauty in foggy mornings and blooming wildflowers. Let us feel the ambition that little kids feel when they say they are going to be astronauts and ballerinas when they grow up. Let us radiate the kind of unconditional love that our pets do.

2019, please be the year that brings the world together.

Create peace and love within our hearts and help us to create and maintain healthy relationships with others, including those with opposing views and beliefs from ours. Let us find common ground in which we can bond and relate to each other. Relinquish hate from our hearts and help us to love our neighbors.

2019, please be the year that brings hope to the hopeless.

Lead us to our faith. Let this year be the year in which we root ourselves in our beliefs. Give us hope when we feel like we can no longer persist. Offer light to those who are drowning in darkness. Let this be the year in which we find ourselves and flourish.

2019, please be the year that teaches me to love myself.

Let this be the year that I discover who I am and why I am. Let this year bring an abundance of joy and grace into my life. Teach me to embrace every flaw and love them immensely. Teach me to abandon comparison and relish in the individuality that makes me beautiful and worthy. Help me to love myself in the way that I love others, unconditionally and without fear.

2019, please be kind to me. Please be kind to the ones I love. Please teach patience and grace to the world. Let us find the beauty within simplicity and peace within our souls. 2019: be good to us.