The Year Ends… And?

The holidays march on to, as we receive the new year, their fiery firework finish and many resolutions are being made…

In fact, these are probably the same we have made year in and year out, hoping that, somewhere along the way, we will actually be able to complete one or two of them. According to those in the know (whoever they may be but, “those”, seem to be in the know about most everything!!) the most common one is that perennial one about losing the extra 10-15 pounds gained over the course of the year just ending. The only problem is that after several years of not actually working on this particular goal, we are probably more than 30 pounds overweight. And gaining…

And then there is the one about “Improving my lot”… don’t we all wish we could… Usually, when someone proclaims this as one of their goals, my immediate questions are: “what lot?”… “What do you mean by improving?”… “How much do you actually plan to improve?”… “Is there a specific place you want to get to?”… No I am not being a basic SOB; the real issue is that we set these lofty goals which sound good but have no meat, no defined something to accomplish.

In life, as we may be forced to do at work sometimes, we do have to set goals. In the same manner, these have to be defined and have to have an identifiable objective, something we can actually measure as we go along. This is actually a very difficult thing to do as we plan our immediate future(s) over beers and tequila at the neighborhood bar.

What is this odd (and short) entry about? About our lives, as we tend to look it over at this time of the year... We often get up in the morning and lack a basic idea as to what we will be doing this day and why… other than going to work, of course. As time passes, we often look back and, in frustration, ask ourselves the age old question “Where has all the time gone?”... “All these years…” The point being that we get so wrapped up in our daily chores that we forget these are not who we are, but what we do for a living. We walk around with a job related label, putting aside the more realistic label that has to do with our person.

Until we realize and accept this, our lives will continue to roll on as a continuum of daily vignettes, most of which will be dictated by others, not by our own needs and likes… and in the end, life will sooner or later exact all it deems her due. She is an extremely harsh, demanding and jealous mistress. And, when this happens, we may think she is being awfully hard but… it turns out to be a just toll due from these past long and winding roads we have travelled, without thinking much about where it was we were really going… or why.

The offshoot of the story is that each one of us has to be his or her own fate maker; we all have to be aware of who we are and where we hope to go; then actually delineate and work the plan which will help us get there. There are no guarantees and even if we don’t make it all the way, we will at least know that our time was well spent, that we did our best to actually make a go of a life that belonged to us.

As a very wise friend said to me once… “if you plan to get to the moon and make it only halfway at least you will be able to look back, relive a wondrous journey and see a beautiful image of the earth… just sitting there for you to enjoy it to the fullest… Imagine all you would have lost had you not tried”

Be Well … Be Back!!!

Final Notes:

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