Illuminating a Path Forward in 2025
Reflections on the meaning of Chanukah alongside intentions for growth and resilience in 2025
There was a lot of talk last week about the magical overlap between the first night of Chanukah and Christmas.
This week, I think there's something more interesting to say about the overlap between the first day of the new year and the final nights of Chanukah.
My husband doesn't celebrate the holiday and regards it—as he does most things—with characteristic skepticism.
The only exception to this skepticism? The appeal of potato latkes, which he made as part of the Christmas dinner (pictured above).
"What's the point of Chanukah?" my husband asked me. "What's the whole deal with the gifts and the dreidel and the chocolate money?"
I pause to think about his questions.
It’s been over two decades since I was a student at a religious school with any routine schedule of prayer, celebration, and Hebrew study.
It’s been years since I was meaningfully religious in any capacity.
While there was a time during which I seriously considered becoming a rabbi, short of living vicariously through Adam Brody’s character in Netflix's Nobody Wants This, becoming the leader of a spiritual community is not something I’ve seriously reconsidered in terms of future career options.
Off the cuff, I wasn’t prepared to talk details about the Maccabees, the destruction of the Holy Temple, or the commercialization of Chanukah to be “competitive” with Christmas.
After noting that the Rugrats Chanukah special is a decent place to look for an evergreen take on the meaning of Chanukah, in reply to his questions, I say something like this:
"It's a holiday about miracles and persistence in the face of adversity and improbability.”
As soon as I say this, I realize that this line isn't just my take on the timeless meaning of Chanukah.
It's the truth of of my holiday season following one of the most difficult years of my life.
Miracles and persistence in the face of adversity and improbability.
I've spent the last few days reflecting on the last year, drawing the conclusion that it was a difficult but important year for me.
Professionally, it was a painful year of starting over--twice--after being laid off at the end of 2023. It took me until the very end of 2024 to find a stable, healthy environment in which to do my best work without compromising my health or losing my mind.
Personally, it was a humbling, forced off-season of a year. My ACL, MCL, and meniscus got torn up in a freak accident at a jiu-jitsu tournament in February 2024. That injury and the subsequent knee surgery took away more than just another competition season from me. It fully removed my go-to source of exercise, stress relief, and community from my life.
Learning how to walk is hard enough when you're a fearless, gummy-limbed baby. Doing it again when you're an adult, aching and able to feel and remember all the times you fell and how much it hurt? Brutal.
So when I think about the end of Chanukah and the beginning of the new year, I can't help but think about how important these words are in my life right now: miracles, persistence, adversity, improbability.
When I think about my career journey, my sports rehab journey, and my broader goals and what I want to achieve, the meaning of this one holiday becomes a mantra for the whole next year:
As I pursue work that I believe is significant and scalable, both inside and outside of my corporate role.
As I work to return to the sport I love and reclaim my sense of identity as an athlete.
As I strive to become a better and bolder storyteller, not letting my best thinking live and die in Microsoft Teams or in the unfinished "Drafts" of my Apple Notes.
Closing out this post and beginning the new year…
I'd love to know what your holiday season meant to you and the intentions you're setting for 2025.
Drop a comment and let me know if this post "illuminated" anything for you.
If you've made it this far, wishing you all the best in seizing the year ahead,
EZ
