As an adult I have never been much of one for New Year Resolutions, or deep navel-gazing. I’m far too much of a pragmatist to put much faith in resolutions made in the soft light of the post-Christmas glow - that I know won’t last past the first week of February, if that - and mostly I find the year-end ruminations of other people far too self-congratulatory or maudlin - or boastful - to be of much use.
Which is a strange dichotomy for someone who is as mushy and sentimental as I am. I cry at Kodak commercials (remember those?) and love books and movies with a happy ending that leaves me sniffling.
But New Year’s?
I usually let the end of the year go by with a simple “Happy New Year,” and leave it at that.
Is this a steampunk crystal ball that can tell us what the next year holds? Now, I don't think so! Besides, where's the suspense in that?
The last few years, and especially the last couple, I’ve mostly ignored the celebrations except to stand with my husband for the last few seconds of the old year and welcome the new one in together - based on the adage, “Begin as you would go.”
But this year has been different. Change and challenge have been the primary themes of this year, probably the most challenging in a while.
Through Covid and the shutdowns there were challenges but it felt as though all of us shared that load and we were all shouldering similar burdens.The last thirteen months - starting with Steve’s emergency hospital visit last Thanksgiving - it felt as though the rest of the world was coming back to life but we were still reeling.
Yeah, it kind of felt like this at times.
Then this week this post came through my feed, Your Year In Review. Max Daniels nailed many of the things that bother me about year-end lists, and I found myself stopping to actually think about how much has happened in the last year.
I won’t go into everything on her list right now, but I will use it as a way to remind myself that we actually accomplished a lot this year, and we are going into the next year in a much better place than we were in January.
I am not good at giving myself credit for what I accomplished, so I am going to make a list of the things I did this year. I sometimes tend to focus on the negative, so I will try to take positive goals into the new year.
And for tonight - the last hours of 2022 - I will spend it in an online “Zoom room” with other creatives, beginning as we would go by spending a few hours in each other’s (mostly-silent) company and creating.
I wish each of you all the best for the coming year, and I look forward to sharing the next 12 months with you all.
I will leave you with this Tweet from best-selling author Harlan Coben. I shared it a year ago, and I hope we can all resolve to take his suggestion to heart for another year. I think it's excellent advice - and if you're anything like me, you won't be able to stop at 5 minutes!
