Happy Every Year!

It is the dawning of another new year, another collection of weeks, days, months, events that all pass too quickly, leaving both fleeting impressions with tenuous recollections and fiercely imprinted occurrences. I find it amusing adults put so much influence on this time of year, as if the purchasing of a new calendar is enough to make you change your life around. Perhaps it is, but for the most part the question of “what is your resolution this year?” can rapidly be followed with “so how quickly did you break it?” I haven’t set any resolutions this year, I feel like I am doing alright for myself at this particular juncture in time, which is saying something for me. There are things I would love to do, but not necessarily anything I need to achieve, at least not this year. I want to get to Florida at least once, take my son to a beach, accept the fact that I don’t have to weigh myself every day to reassure myself I’m still skinny, go horseback riding again, paint a successful landscape… I could go on and on. Everyone could. But things I need to achieve? Other than a more stable bank account balance, nah. My son has been struggling with the whole concept of New Years, he doesn’t get it. I don’t either. Who cares if you have to remember to write another number on your check (you won’t for at least a year), it has absolutely no bearing on your life. If you are the sort of person who even thinks about putting off your life-affirming choices until the New Years, you won’t do them. You won’t make a single lasting change in your life because if you really wanted to do it, you would.

Now. Today. There is no other way.

Taking charge of your life, your choices, and your reality has nothing to do with a 10 or an 11 on your cell phone screen. It has to do with your heart, your yearning, and your ability to do what needs to be done. I wish everyone the pleasant sensation of treading water I am experiencing in my life. I am not struggling to keep my head above water any more, nor am I lounging on the chaise beach side sipping Mai-Tai’s (sad but true). But I am comfortable with where I am at, who I am surrounded with, and where I am headed. I wish everyone the understanding that they have the power to be happy with what they have, and if they aren’t, they have the power to make the changes necessary to be. Everyone does. It might not be easy, and it might take a couple annoying changes of calendars… but we can all do it. Happy New Year. Happy Every Year.