Hey, guess what? It’s a new year, fresh start, a do-over, or whatever you want to call it. Even the weather seemed to know that it was time to make a change, as the gusty and cold winds stirred up on the night of January first. Though it’s been more like spring since then.
It’s traditional for people to do reassessments as the new year starts, even making resolutions to make changes. Of course, there’s nothing magic about making changes at the beginning of a year. A person could pick August 15th or next Wednesday at 3:15pm to make changes. But, a fresh start on the 1st is a good tradition.
We visited two parties on New Year’s Eve, and both were very pleasant. For some reason it’s especially nice to spend time with people on a winter evening. After having a full house for more than a week, it was good to be off visiting than missing our family’s presence.
I have a lot of suggestions for other people’s fresh starts. But, I don’t get to do that. It’s only our own imperfections we’re allowed to work on.
In 2012 I’d like to make better use of my time. I know that everybody needs some down time, but it’s too easy to sit down at 7pm and just exist until 10:30 without accomplishing anything.
As a corollary to that, I need to schedule time to write every day. To make room for one or two hours a day, I’ll need to minimize my time on Facebook, Linked-in, and Twitter and stay away from some of the sites I use to stay informed. In an election year, seeing less news and other media can help lead to sanity and lower stress.
I’m also going to try to refrain from calling people idiots. I never actually calling people idiots when they are in ear-shot, but over the years I’ve come to make my idiot pronouncement when I see bumper stickers or yard signs that support something I don’t. The people may actually be idiots, or perhaps they’re smart people who are wrong on one issue. Or, maybe I’m wrong. Probably not.
I’ve got a lot of things to clean up. My “work room” in the basement would make any normal person shake their head and turn around to leave. My stuff in our bedroom needs to be put away and winnowed through for Good Will. My office at work isn’t too awfully bad, but it needs a few hours too.
I’m not going to mention losing weight since it hasn’t done any good in past years. I will resolve to get back into being more physically active, and perhaps the weight will take care of itself.
The world has a fresh start with this new year. The only person I can control in all these improvements is myself, and you can control your own changes. The state, national and international condition isn’t something we can influence much, other than keeping an open mind for facts — an endangered species in election years.
So yes, let’s saddle up and try it again in 2012. A lot of crazy, stupid, terrifying, and tragic things will undoubtedly happen in 2012, but let’s all resolve to notice the good stuff, and to do what we can to make things better with our time, talent, and treasure.
Peter Wallace Writes 