Given two sentences, combine them into one without changing the meaning.
This year was difficult. But I'm still hopeful.
Despite this year being difficult, I'm still hopeful.
Complete the following task based on the instruction and optional input provided.### Instruction:
Given two sentences, combine them into one without changing the meaning.

### Input:
This year was difficult. But I'm still hopeful.

### Output:
Despite this year being difficult, I'm still hopeful.