Monday, January 2, 2012

A New Year

                I love each new year and what it brings.  I love the promise of things to come, the chance to start over, and the opportunity to correct mistakes.  And yet, I can’t help but get sentimental about losing another year to age.  What did I accomplish last year?  Why wasn’t it as much as I had planned?  Heck, where did it go?  It was 2011, the year that was going to change my life.  Then I blinked and it was Valentine’s Day.  I blinked again and it was Easter.  Spring came and then summer.  Oh, I love summer.  Then Labor Day approached and it reminded me that I hadn’t been to the lake or to as many baseball games as I had planned.  Then it was Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then I’m right back here thinking about how great 2011, er, 2012 is going to be.
                Why does it go by so fast?  Is it because there are so many things that we have to do each day?  Is it the vast number of goals I have set for myself, some of which go unaccomplished that keep me so occupied that time just flies?  Maybe it’s simple math.  When we’re children 365 days is a huge percentage of our life.  A year takes forever.  Now it’s just one of many so it seems to take so little time to go by.  Or does time just work that way?  It is what it is?
                I seem to always become a bit melancholy at this time of the year.  I’m not quite sure if it’s that I can’t help but think about how we’re all fragile, finite beings with a limited lifespan or if I just wish I could get that year back.  Another year is gone.  How long will the next one last?  The next five?  The next ten? 
I like these moments of reflection and introspection.  They humble me.  They energize me and make me realize that I have to be a better man, a better person, a better explorer, runner, accountant, friend, son, a better everything.  And I only have a year to do it all before I’m right back here evaluating my life again.  For me, this time of year is a wakeup call and I welcome it.  So I say this, I am going to make this year the most exciting year of my life.  Who is with me?
                Clark

2 comments:

  1. Well said, Clark....well said. So many times I have wished I could "get that year back." Sadness finds me when I think of the "could haves" and "should haves". Yes, humbling is the word and I think we need that time of reflection to encourage us to strive to be a better person. I am with you....2012 is going to be the best year yet!

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  2. Outstanding! That makes two of us. Anyone else?

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