While I am not the biggest fan of change, I am happy about the opportunity brought by the New Year’s Eve, when we reflect on the year to pass and plan for the new one. I find having a new beginning refreshing.
Well, it’s rather easy to like December when living in a rather peaceful country. I write this thinking about how people preparing for the holidays, buying gifts, going to Christmas markets, meeting up with friends, taking pictures and making memories. It’s a nice time of the year.
It saddens me that not everybody is feeling the joy. I hope that, no matter the hardship, there is enough evidence of kindness in the world that all people, if only for a moment, feel at peace. And I also hope that the efforts to maintain peace grow.
Before feeling tempted to dive in a rant on the importance of humanity and continuous peace building as there is one planet and as we all only live once, I will go into the opportunities provided by this period to plan for next year.
I started setting up New Year Resolutions in 2018 and each year I notice how some things get done, some are never started and most are moved from one list to the next.
Many things just don’t get done or get partially done, as it happens with what I want to read or how many drafts I want to complete in a year. Not that it would be impossible to reach the goals, it’s just that life happens: there are distractions, there is boredom, one gets tired or less motivated or there are these moments when it just doesn’t make sense to continue as started and adjustments are needed. And, in the end, it’s not so much about achieving a certain level of succes, but rather, to me, the sole purpose of the resolutions is to keep going.
What I like about this exercise is that it keeps me focused on what I value and it lets me get less distracted by the day to day or by what people think. With time, I learned that there’s always something to do and that there are so many opportunities to get distracted; it helped to have a list of the things I actually want to do long term.
Many things from my previous lists are added to 2024’s just because I want to continue practicing and working on skills which are important to me. I try to add some fun things too, like a little trip or a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Another thing I learned was the importance of having fun stuff on the list and some that could get done in one [or a few] day[s]. It makes the harder ones seem more attainable.
Happy holidays and may 2024 be good!
Make today count!
