Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Check, please...

I must confess, new years can be a bit anticlimactic. Don't get me wrong, I am all about celebrating, and the start of a new year is a great time. And maybe I'm feeling a bit Scrooge-ish today (I haven't been feeling well lately) but this year especially I feel like New Year's is so arbitrary. I mean, it's not even universally agreed upon!*

But even at an individual level, years are pretty arbitrary. It seems like we often measure life by events. I reflect on my life and I don't usually sit and remember 1995. I remember starting high school, or getting my license, or graduating, or moving, or starting a new job. And then I say, "And that would have been in XXXX." I've been holding my breath, waiting and trying to change my current life situation, and as 2013 has approached, I've thought, "I can't wait for 2012 to be over." But the end of 2012 doesn't mean the end of the rough patch I've been going through, and it's been hard to get motivated for more of the same. 

But there is a bright side. I'm not such a grump that I'm not going to celebrate with everyone else, so I get at least one celebration out of it. And when things do change (I'm going to keep telling myself they will. Otherwise, I might start hyperventilating), I can have another celebration and another chance to have a fresh start, huzzah! And I think that is kind of the point of New Years. Maybe we all need to have some day, no matter how arbitrary, where we can say, "Well, all of the bumps and bruises and beatings of life are getting tossed out today. I'm going to let them go, take a deep breath of fresh new year air, regroup, and keep on keeping on." I think we need a day set aside for regrouping and starting again, even if life is more of the same. So, as you start out on the next leg of life, I just want to say, I hope that your year and mine turn out to be wonderful and full of joy and miracles and happiness.

*I think we need to capitalize on this more. I mean, how many different new years celebrations are there? And each one could be taken as an opportunity to evaluate our progress and recommit to making the changes we want to. We could even add mid-years celebrations and stuff! Not that it has to be a government holiday or anything, but wouldn't it be nice to pause mid-year and reflect? Why wait for 365 days to pass?

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