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New year, new you.

Or at least, hopefully, 2022 will feel a bit more new.

This last year has felt like an extension of 2020 — a “groundhog” year — as we’ve continued to weather the COVID-19 pandemic.

The year started with a bang — literally — when supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump stormed the Capital on Jan. 6. 2021 also brought hope when the highly anticipated COVID-19 vaccine became widely available.

We’ve had ups and downs. Some loosening of pandemic restrictions along with COVID variants that are difficult to pronounce. Important trial verdicts that we agreed and disagreed with. But we made it through.

So what can we do to make next year better? We think the simplest answer is this: be kind.

Kindness and compassion are something we can all agree that the world needs more of. And while the outlook for 2022 is up in the air and many factors are out of our control, one thing we can do is offer up kindness and compassion to our neighbors.

These acts of kindness could be big like large donations and hours spent volunteering, or small signs of hope like helping a neighbor shovel their driveway or holding open a door.

While we can’t guarantee that 2022 will be better than this year (or the last), we can all make an effort to make the world a little bit better of a place to be.

— St. Cloud Times, Dec. 27