New Year
I never quite know what to make of this time of year. Specifically, the new year. On the one hand, it seems like a natural time to reassess our lives and resolve to make positive changes for the upcoming year. But on the other hand, it's really just an arbitrary line that has no significance other than that which we have given it. The clock is always ticking and just because the second hand passes over the 12 on what we call new year's eve, does that really mean anything? Are things after that passing of the second hand really any different? Should they be?
In general, the impetus for humans to engage in self-analysis comes from direct trauma of some sort. We tend not to think too much about how things are going or what we might do differently when we are doing well. But New Year's is an exception to this general rule. It's a time when we feel that we're supposed to take a look at things whether we're experiencing smooth sailing or tumultuous seas. I guess it never hurts to engage in introspection and to re-establish perspective but for some reason it feels like there is a lot of pressure to do so at this time of year in a way that seems overwhelming and unrealistic and like a recipe for failure and disappointment.
Even just the words themselves conjure up images of a shiny happy new year filled with optimism and prosperity and good health and happiness and broad new horizons. While we all hope for those things, is it really realistic to think that we can somehow create them through resolutions simply because the second hand has shifted past the 12 once again? I don't think so.
What we can do, however, is to look at our lives as a whole and instead of focusing on how we can have more or be better or push harder, we can take stock and be grateful for what we already have. I hate Sheryl Crow, for reasons obvious to those who know me, but there is one line in a song of hers that I really like. (She must not have written it). It says, "it's not having what you want; it's wanting what you've got". Not that there isn't always room for improvement, but for the most part I think we'd all do better on New Year's and throughout the year spending less time worrying about having what we want and more time wanting what we already have.
And on that note, Happy New Year, everyone! (especially Mike L. and Mike W. and Bill and Angie for reading this)
In general, the impetus for humans to engage in self-analysis comes from direct trauma of some sort. We tend not to think too much about how things are going or what we might do differently when we are doing well. But New Year's is an exception to this general rule. It's a time when we feel that we're supposed to take a look at things whether we're experiencing smooth sailing or tumultuous seas. I guess it never hurts to engage in introspection and to re-establish perspective but for some reason it feels like there is a lot of pressure to do so at this time of year in a way that seems overwhelming and unrealistic and like a recipe for failure and disappointment.
Even just the words themselves conjure up images of a shiny happy new year filled with optimism and prosperity and good health and happiness and broad new horizons. While we all hope for those things, is it really realistic to think that we can somehow create them through resolutions simply because the second hand has shifted past the 12 once again? I don't think so.
What we can do, however, is to look at our lives as a whole and instead of focusing on how we can have more or be better or push harder, we can take stock and be grateful for what we already have. I hate Sheryl Crow, for reasons obvious to those who know me, but there is one line in a song of hers that I really like. (She must not have written it). It says, "it's not having what you want; it's wanting what you've got". Not that there isn't always room for improvement, but for the most part I think we'd all do better on New Year's and throughout the year spending less time worrying about having what we want and more time wanting what we already have.
And on that note, Happy New Year, everyone! (especially Mike L. and Mike W. and Bill and Angie for reading this)
posted by Me at 12/29/2006 10:20:00 AM
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