He is Risen! I am risen. You are risen.

Monday. The day after Easter. Or, the first day of Easter. I suppose for those who follow the liturgical calendar, there are 40 days of Easter. My girls really like these holiday extensions…

But how does one observe a “holi”day like this one when they no longer consider themselves a Christian? (Whatever that means these days) Or hell, how does a Christian observe it? I mean, if we really peel back all the layers, outside of attending a service, and maybe doing a potluck, what are we really doing to celebrate the idea of hope and resurrection?

Personally, I love Easter. It was always my favorite holiday. From it being spring and new life blooming to the breaking of the fast (when I fasted for Lent), as it carried such momentum of hope. Or at least I told myself that.

I would make beef tenderloin every year. It was also the time we’d burn our pile of dried and shriveled up Xmas trees. I was also completely numb from the alcohol. I’d maintain the perfect level of tipsy so as to not feel bad about being “drunk”. Real hopeful…

I’ve never really admitted that out loud. Party because for the longest time, I had convinced myself that I was definitely not an alcoholic. Alcoholics were “drunks”. They couldn’t maintain jobs, and here I was building a whole company. Boy was I naive. 

Then a few Easters ago, I met someone. 

They quickly became one of my best friends and greatest teachers. And it was through this friendship that I realized just how dark I had become and how much I relied on alcohol to prevent me from feeling. Something that I was already very inexperienced at thanks to my childhood. I felt alive. I felt loved. I felt… myself. Who the fuck was this person in me that I had no idea was in there… or maybe I had simply forgotten. Yea, that’s it.

The more I was around them, the less I drank. The less I drank, the more I felt. Holy shit.

Feeling emotions wasn’t the only thing that began in me in a way I didn’t know possible. I was sleeping better. I had mental clarity. Wait… what’s that inner voice… the one telling you you’re loved… “Hope? Is that you?”

I am not knocking alcohol. You do you. I owned a damn cocktail bar for goodness sake. I LOVE the science and flavor of good drinks… but it brought a lot of damage to my life. To myself. But hey, at least I had a huge bonfire and a perfectly seasoned tenderloin. 

Easter is about resurrection. New life. Hope. 

And what is wild (to me at least), is that on this journey called life, I somehow have found myself returning to so many of the same tenants and practices that I once followed. Sure, contextually it is VERY different, and I am sure plenty of folks from circles I used to run in would consider me some demonic pagan or something (I know, because I used to be one of them).

But now instead of waiting every year to celebrate these ideas, I am slowly seeking to embrace them daily when I awake – you know? Our literal daily resurrection…

And that is easy (well, the idea of it, I still fail so often to incorporate many of these practices such as gratitude on a daily basis) when you have something that pulls you out of bed. That force…energy…magnet. What honestly I would call HOPE.

Before, my motivation to arise was tainted by work metrics or other worldly pursuits, which if I am being honest, deep down I knew I felt empty, I just wasn’t capable of being honest with myself.

And ultimately, this energy… this “hope” that I now experience that allows me to arise daily with enthusiasm far more often than not, is thanks to my friend. They taught me what love really is. To then also love myself. To see me, for me. 

They awakened the divine in me in a way that Christianity was never capable of accomplishing. 

And for this gift, I am forever grateful. 

So what are you hopeful for? Or are you struggling to find hope? 

Because right now, it is really easy to feel dismal. But go read Viktor Frankl. Hope is a necessary component to survival. But what is it? Obviously philosophers have debated it for centuries… but to me? It’s simple.

It’s you. It’s love. And you are love. 

You are enough. It’s the fullness of embracing this lived experience knowing that we have the opportunity to grow in that love. With others. With ourselves. With the world.

Whether you believe in Jesus or not, and regardless of what happens after this “life”, at least for now, we have the gift of resurrecting everyday, and choosing LOVE. In whatever form that may take.

So Happy Easter! He is Risen! I am risen. You are risen.

So rise up. Embrace yourself. Feel hope. Even with the hard shit. Because it’s the hard shit that also makes us learn and experience this love and hope with more fullness, in my opinion.

+Michael