IF, like me, you made a New Year’s resolution as the clock chimed midnight and 2009 gave way to 2010, don’t try to cover up the fact that, within hours, you smashed it to Hell, letting yourself down yet again. The great thing about each new year is that it is a chance to forget the past and look forward, with renewed hope, to the future so make a note of how long it took you to break your resolution this year and hope you do better next year. Sorted.
As each new year dawns, we mentally create a list of hopes and dreams for the coming year that we cross off as they come to fruition or as we realise that they are totally unrealistic; I mean, what are the real chances that aliens are going to come to Earth and proclaim me their new leader? Each year offers opportunities and obstacles and the key to surviving the year is to dream small and reach for progressively bigger dreams once they’ve been achieved. Casey Kasem used to sign off at the end of each edition of America’s Top Ten with “keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars” and a more apposite sentiment I’ve yet to find.
The whole idea of having these moments of hopeful expectation is to have a counterpoint to the moments of reflection we have from time to time, in which we look back and see where we have been and what has been achieved, or not as the case may be. People who reach a milestone birthday will know exactly what I mean.
Both perspectives are needed – the reflective look into our own personal rear view mirror and the hopeful gaze into a future not yet formed where our hopes and dreams dot the horizon waiting for us to reach them. Our past informs our present choices and warns us of our mistakes whilst our future opens up vistas of possibility and entices us with promises of hopes and dreams fulfilled giving us something to aim for.
I’m off to step foot into my future, eager to see what’s in store. How about you?
Looking back over this year has shown me just how wrong I was to be optimistic for the year back in January.