Erica Buteau: The New Year isn’t a reset. It’s a carry-over.

Every January, we are sold the same idea. New year, new you. As if the calendar flipping somehow erases what we are carrying. As if grief clocks out on Dec. 31. As if illness, caregiving, trauma, exhaustions or fear politely wait for permission to follow us into January.

But most of us do not enter the new year refreshed. We arrive already tired, carrying last year’s unfinished business. A body that did not heal on schedule. A child still struggling. A parent needing more care. A relationship still under strain. Or a life that did not turn out the way we were promised it would if we just stayed positive.