Lunar Reflection 2026
Lunar New Year used to feel different when I lived in Hawaii.
New Year mochi. Red envelopes. Fireworks somewhere in the background. Extended family just being around. It wasn’t loud or extravagant. It was just… a thing that happened every year.
After I left in 2016, it slowly faded into something quieter.
Now it feels like any other day. Calm. Neutral. Not sad. just Distant.
I used to think lunar new year was just a cultural celebration, but it’s always felt like a second beginning to me. Not January 1st energy — something softer. Honoring ancestors I’ve never met. Acknowledging where I come from, even when I don’t fully know it.
I haven’t celebrated it in a long time. And my family doesn’t really do much now.
But maybe that doesn’t mean it has no meaning.
Maybe it just means I get to decide what it looks like.
This year, I want to give my family red envelopes — not because we always have, but because I want to. Fortune. Prosperity. Protection.
I want to clean my space. Take care of my skin. Reset quietly.
I want to leave behind my pessimism. My anger toward the past. The resentment I’ve been holding onto. The need to control everything so I don’t get hurt again.
I want to practice forgiveness. Not for them — for me.
If this year has a word, it’s determination.
Not loud determination.
Just the steady kind.
The kind where I move forward even if I’m scared.
The kind where I choose growth over comfort.
Maybe this is what Lunar New Year looks like for me now.
Not recreating the past.
Not pretending nothing changed.
Just honoring it in my own way.