Monday, January 01, 2007

Thoughts on the New Year

First of all, let it be known that I hate New Year’s Eve. I live in Manhattan, but I’m never one of the Times Square revelers. The New Year holiday reminds me of all the things I’ve failed to accomplish in the last year, the last decade, my whole life. I’m generally an optimistic person, but on New Year’s Eve I look back and groan. I'm the New Year's Scrooge.

I’ve decided I need to shake things up a bit. Spending a month in Portland, completely removed from my usual activities, gave me the opportunity to see my life as though from a distance. As a result I’m re-evaluating the ways I spend my leisure time as well as my long-term aspirations. This year I want to try to break free from old assumptions and make sure I know why I’m doing the things I do. Adjust my expectations to an achievable level. Relax more, enjoy more.

As an inveterate list maker I find it hard to resist the urge to jot down New Year's resolutions. Working on this post I’ve already made several lists which I promptly deleted. No, rather than make more resolutions which will turn into recriminations come December 31, I think in 2007 I’ll keep a running tally of new insights I’ve had and practical changes I’ve made in my life. This idea came to me when I added labels to the 35 blog entries I posted here in 2006. It was fun to see the topics that had caught my interest. I felt good about the research I'd done to enhance each post. I even liked my pictures! I realized that changing jobs was a really significant accomplishment. All in all, I realized that this blog gives me great satisfaction. Perhaps this blog will help me keep better track of 2007's accomplishments so that I'll have things to celebrate next New Year's Eve.

I seem to have emerged my from this reflection with a more hopeful outlook. Last night's bah-humbug frame of mind is fading, being replaced with New Year's cheer. In hopes that I'm not stretching my Dickensonian analogies too far, let me close with a quote from Tiny Tim:

God bless us every one!






© 2007, Linda Mason Hood
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