1. Give More.
   1.  More of your time to the organizations you care about—this can look like volunteering, campaigning, or seeking out organizations to care about. Give more time to the communities you’re a part of. Support local business. Support businesses of color. Support nonprofits you care for. Pursue to empower the communities you are a part of.
   2.  Give more presence to the people you spend time with; this means putting down your phone more. I know it’s ironic that a blogger would say that, when most of our work is in front of a screen, but because of our own challenges in balancing our screen time, and the realization that real connection is more meaningful than screen connections, we’re trying to move towards better technology boundaries to create spaces that are safe and committed to listening, empathizing, and interacting with each other.
   3. More of your resources. Money is a really personal and private thing, but we want to be committed to literally put our money where our mouth is, and that means planning ahead financially and identifying organizations we care about and want to partner with. We want to take a step beyond social media activism.
2.  Detox Regularly.
   1. We’re talking about selfcare here. We’re talking about detoxing from the lies you tell yourself about yourself. We’re talking about the things that take over your life in non-lifegiving ways. Take walks. Make lists. Dance around your house. Turn off your phone. Go outside. Go to the bathhouse. Set boundaries in hard relationships. Schedule a massage. Go to counseling. Do yoga. Practice your art. Discover your art. Make a regular commitment to selfcare. Pencil it in, and protect that time.
3.  Stop Arguing with Strangers/People who just want to argue.
   1. Mary-Beth here, this is my New Years resolution. I’ve spent several hours this past year having arguments with people in person, over the phone, and online. I’ve had really good ones, and really, really, REALLY bad ones. Here’s what I’ve learned: I want to talk to people who can listen to me, and who I can listen to. Without that, it’s just like trying to go without AC in a Georgia summer: impossible and miserable. I’m NOT saying you need to only have conversations with people you agree with. What I’m saying is, stop believing you can convince everyone and anyone that you’re right, and instead look to have productive conversations.
4.  Ask More Questions.
   1. Ask your loved ones questions. Google good questions to ask. Make an effort to foster genuine curiosity for the people you care for. Let’s move beyond “how are you?” and “how was your day?” this year. I know it’s SO easy for me to get wrapped up in my head and tell my own stories, and I struggle to ask real, meaningful questions of others. I want to do that better, though. I want to know others more, and to give importance to the everyday things that affect the people I love.
   2. Ask people you disagree with questions. Ask about their experiences. Ask about their stories. Seek to understand their perspective. Listen and learn. You’d be surprised the doors that open up for reconciliation when we allow ourselves to humanize someone else’s experiences. Stop writing people off because you think they’re wrong (that’s how we got into this mess to begin with).
5.  Speak Up & Speak Out.
   1. Shut down bigotry, racism, sexism, religious profiling, and attack speech. There have been many times in 2016 where I’ve personally experienced and heard of people being attacked for how they look, the religion they practice, or their gender/sexual orientation. Y’all. STOP. THE. SILENCE. You don’t have to have a hero mentality to step in and call out injustice. Let 2017 be the year when we’re DONE with allowing others to be unjustly attacked. Regardless of circumstance, it is NEVER okay for someone to make you or someone else feel unsafe by using hate speech or slurs.
   2. Here is my absolute favorite way to do this. It’s my favorite because it removes the power from the attacker, and creates a safe space for the person feeling attacked. This example was specifically created for Islamaphobia, but it applies to every kind of attack.
6.  Cultivate Gentleness.
   1. I live in a space where I am torn heavily between wanting to start a rebellion every. single. day AND I also want to have productive conversations with people. I want to foster community. I want to be a part of a social healing movement. As I’ve had space to reflect and process this year, and the implications of the election results, I’ve had every range of emotions—from panic to anger, to finally, a resolute sense of peace. Not because I feel any more safe than I did after the election, but because I feel ready to respond. As I’ve thought about gentleness this year, I’ve grown to really love it as a trait that I want to cultivate. And before I did that, I had to weed out all the things that gentleness ISN’T: it isn’t weakness, it isn’t silence, it isn’t a free pass to be walked over, it isn’t oppressive. Here is what I DO see gentleness as: I see gentleness as the strength to respond to adversity in a non-retaliatory way. I see gentleness as the freedom to choose what conversations I want to be a part of. I see gentleness as the resilience of marginalized groups  partnering together to tell their stories. I see gentleness as the opportunity to educate, instead of lash out against. And that’s how I want to respond in 2017, out of gentleness, and a genuine desire to build bridges and narrow the gaps between our stories and experiences.
7.  Learn More + Love more.
   1. Learn more about the marginalized groups I am a part of, and the groups that I don’t know anything about. Create a reading list. Establish new and diverse friendships. Ask questions. Share opinions. Learn from people who know more than me, or are one step ahead of me in life. Learn how to advocate. Learn ways to respond to my spouse better. Learn about business tools. Learn about and try different cuisines (come one, y’all seriously didn’t think we’d get through 2017 without good food, did you?). Essentially, have the humility to step outside of where I feel comfortable, to learn from someone or about something that I don’t know about.
   2. I watched a video earlier this year about a young woman who passed away from FA, the genetic disorder that I have. She shared a poem that was dear to her heart that said that all things living have value. I want to lean into that this year. As uncomfortable as it is sometimes to step outside of our bubbles of righteousness, it’s important to venture out there to hear others’ stories. Even if we still disagree at the end of the day, we still want to learn more. From you, from your neighbors, from people around the world. Because we want to love better. And what better space is there to celebrate from, than love? We can’t think of any.

As we close slam the door on 2016, we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for giving our words, food, and ideas life. For giving us your time, your encouragement, and your support this year. Heart of Celebration is one of the most beautiful things to come out of 2016 for us, and that just wouldn’t be possible without all of you beautiful people following along.

Sending you a raised glass full of #goodriddance2016, and so much hope for the year ahead,

Mary-Beth Johnson

Mary-Beth is a creative, food-obsessed, Georgia transplant living Chicago. She is proudly and fiercely Latina, and more specifically Chapina. In her day to day she is a food educator to students around Chicagoland aged 3 to 80+, both virtually and in-person. She is passionate about cultivating the truth that every person has an understanding of food that deserves being brought to the table, and that time in the kitchen can be sacred, passionate, and an act of love for self and others. Outside the kitchen you can find her at the intersections of infertility, chronic illness, and a deep love for the dignity of all humans. She hopes to create a space that is holistic about the role of food in the social, political, relational, and physiological dynamics of our world.