Maybe you saw the news story this past week about the New York state woman who posted a video on the internet in which she tried to recalibrate everyone’s expectations for 2023.

The woman, Erin Monroe, was growing weary of the usual content that was popping up on her social media feeds as the new year approached. You see it all the time: Here’s how to make the new year your best one ever. Here’s how to reach all your goals. Here’s how to make sure your resolutions finally stick this year.

Monroe had seen enough. So she plopped down in her fluffy pink robe and posted a video to TikTok in which she laid down her expectations for the new year.

Here’s part of what she said:

“I think we need to set some expectations. I don’t need 2023 to be my year; I need it to not be a soul-sucking drag through earthly purgatory. … I need 2023 to come in, sit down, shut up and don’t touch anything. I need a palate-cleanser year.”

Of course, Monroe’s video went viral, racking up millions of views and striking a deep chord in many watchers: “I feel this in my soul,” wrote one. “I just need 2023 to simply ‘be,’” another wrote.

Monroe wasn’t that surprised: “People are saying I need a year where I can just get myself in order,” she told The New York Times.

Now, to be fair, 2022 wasn’t as bad as 2021 or 2020, as we tried to demonstrate in the Chieftain’s year-end section last week. But you can’t blame Monroe — and millions of others — for wanting to tamp down expectations for 2023.

Which brings us to today’s edition of the Chieftain, for which reporter Bill Bradshaw has quizzed Wallowa County luminaries about their hopes and fears for 2023. This year, we made a point of asking some of the key players in the county’s medical system, because — as you might have heard — they’ve been through a couple of rough years. As you read their thoughts about 2023, you’ll find that they share some real concerns — but also a sense of pride that they’ve prevailed over the tough tests of the last few years.

We’ve reached out as well to other leaders throughout the county to get their sense of what the new year will bring. We’re finding common themes running through their predictions: To be sure, 2023 will offer fresh challenges. But, as awful as the last two or three years have been, they’ve taught us a lot about how we face these challenges as a community. And those are lessons that will pay off, again and again, during 2023 and in all the years to come.

Maybe that’s why even Monroe, the New York woman who created that viral sensation about expectations for 2023, couldn’t resist a bit of that optimism that seems to come every time we turn the calendar over to a fresh year: “Maybe 2023 will be a primer for the best year ever,” she told the Times.

That would be great. But maybe we shouldn’t get our hopes up too far.