Happy New Year
I’m not sure how I feel about New Year’s Resolutions. At the end of the year, there’s always that sense of renewal, rebirth and guilty awareness. It’s the perfect time to reflect on the changes we want or often need, if we’re to have the motivation to move forward in our lives. However, the one thing about New Year’s Resolutions that I’ve grown to dislike (in recent years) is that they always make you feel lousy about yourself. What’s more discouraging than reviewing the past year of your life to figure out your weaknesses and mistakes, and then half-heartedly pledge once again to lead a more virtuous life? Self-awareness and self-improvement are important, but both are part of an even greater process for the ever-growing soul. I will not resort to compiling a list of those cliché New Years Resolutions, because I see no point in making resolutions or promises that I cannot keep. Call it pessimism, but please avoid mistaking this attitude for a lack of introspection or will-power on my part. I already know that my will is strong and there is no need for it to be tested. Perhaps I’ve grown tired of the whole idea of New Year’s Resolutions. For once, I would like to meet someone who’s New Year’s Resolutions start-off like this: "What’s not to love? I’m perfectly happy with myself and damn, it’s been another impressive year."
This past year began with a string of high expectations and promises. Maybe I didn’t get what I wanted, but I didn’t want what I probably needed. I got thrown for quite a few loops and ended up somewhere I never thought I’d be. Even though it’s not at all what I expected, I’m pleasantly surprised. For me, the end of 2004 marks a definitive ending -- a true conclusion of sorts. And for once, starting a brand new year means something significant. It’s more than another page falling off the calendar, a sign of the everyday. It’s more than an effort to articulate difference through counting. I want to stop counting. I want to stop reducing the "difference" to similarities. Similarities that will only be lost track of somewhere down the line. I’m looking forward to this new beginning with optimism, only slightly tinged with mild trepidations. With less than 24-hours left of 2004, I will begin the upcoming year by focusing on the positive -- the small victories and the fun-stuff. I find inspiration in many people, places and things -- and I will continue to do so. I’m over the questioning and I’m certainly over the negativity. Finally, I feel connected. And I love the way it feels when I feel connected, a sense of belonging. It’s all I really want out of life -- to be able to live in a beautiful place, sharing my passion for life with others, feeling useful and loved, creatively satisfied and at peace.
REMEMBER: In the end, it is the person you become, not the things you have achieved, that is the most important.
This past year began with a string of high expectations and promises. Maybe I didn’t get what I wanted, but I didn’t want what I probably needed. I got thrown for quite a few loops and ended up somewhere I never thought I’d be. Even though it’s not at all what I expected, I’m pleasantly surprised. For me, the end of 2004 marks a definitive ending -- a true conclusion of sorts. And for once, starting a brand new year means something significant. It’s more than another page falling off the calendar, a sign of the everyday. It’s more than an effort to articulate difference through counting. I want to stop counting. I want to stop reducing the "difference" to similarities. Similarities that will only be lost track of somewhere down the line. I’m looking forward to this new beginning with optimism, only slightly tinged with mild trepidations. With less than 24-hours left of 2004, I will begin the upcoming year by focusing on the positive -- the small victories and the fun-stuff. I find inspiration in many people, places and things -- and I will continue to do so. I’m over the questioning and I’m certainly over the negativity. Finally, I feel connected. And I love the way it feels when I feel connected, a sense of belonging. It’s all I really want out of life -- to be able to live in a beautiful place, sharing my passion for life with others, feeling useful and loved, creatively satisfied and at peace.
REMEMBER: In the end, it is the person you become, not the things you have achieved, that is the most important.