I don't think there's a proper reason to hide yourself away either (and by the way, you have a lovely smile!). It's a brave thing, though, to set out to show more of yourself to the world. So tempting to hide.
Re. your subtitle there, it seemed the theme of my New Year gathering, too. I was talking to someone who had just lost her father and she was saying just how, despite it being a profoundly shitty year, there's still hope since we were all there to celebrate a new year. Surely, if life was that bad, we would stop celebrating. I thought it was an interesting thought to ponder, for sure.
Happy New Year :)
Thank you so much! I think at the end of the day, knowing there's hope and working on finding those hope is really is what matters. Happy New Year to you and I hope your year is going to be awesome.