2019 New Year’s Day

Yeah
All is quiet on New Year's Day
A world in white gets underway
I want to be with you
Be with you, night and day
Nothing changes on New Year's Day
On New Year's Day
New Years Day - U2

I have often said New Year’s Eve is my least favorite holiday. Here’s the reason why. I typically have always felt that this day or this night was supposed to be extraordinary. For years, I’d sit and watch the ball drop in New York on television, and I’d watch all of the people in the crowd get brought to a frenzy over the start of a new year and that ball dropping. I never understood the big deal but felt I was missing something. Why were these people so highly excited? What was it? Why was tomorrow going to be any different than today?

My dad always said, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” He lived by that philosophy and tried to instill it in all us kids. I’m sure that line has different meanings to different people, but it made me think about living in the now instead of the past or the future. So many people start the year with goals and get energized about it. Then, about three weeks later, that energy and goal fizzled out like a fire that wasn’t given fresh wood.

I try to live in the now. However, as I have gotten older, I have realized that thinking and planning for the future is not a bad idea either. Another quote I have always liked is, “Those who fail to plan plan to fail.” I’m unsure who wrote that one, but it’s true.

Even while making this website and starting this blog, I wanted to do this at the start of 2018. It’s an entire year later, and I am finally getting it done. Talk about procrastination!

Part of the problem was that I kept overthinking this blog I wanted to create each time I thought about it. I couldn’t figure out what direction I wanted to go or really even what purpose it would serve. Was I going to try and make money with it? Was I going to only talk about a specific topic? Who would read it? What am I doing this for? There were so many questions to answer.

I decided to stop worrying and just let it be! I wanted a minimalist website that wasn’t cluttered. Those who know me best know I hate clutter with a deep-rooted passion. I wanted a place to write. That was it. There is no rhyme or reason, no pattern, no specific category. I remember having a Xanga blog well before MySpace. I loved it for the same reasons I wanted to create this blog. I loved it because I could write about whatever struck me then. Most people use Twitter or Reddit for this type of writing. I wanted a place that was my own. I’m not looking to have the best and most extraordinary template. I’m not looking to blow up and make money. I want to write about the things I care about. So that’s how I’ve landed here. If you’re reading, then thank you for doing so.

2018 was a fantastic year. I was promoted to manager with Aflac in March, and it seems like the year just flew by. We never know on this day where we will indeed be a year from now, but I do pray that it continues to go in the direction it has been going. It was a fantastic year, and there are so many to thank.

I already feel like I’m getting a head start on my goals for 2019, as this site is now created and going live. That’s a pretty cool feeling. I had to decide to do it and had trouble deciding which direction to take. Sometimes, my OCD gets the better of me, to the point that things like this blog took over a year to finally realize that I was overthinking it and needed to make it simple and fun.

When it comes to new goals in 2019, I hope to reach and soar past them. I certainly hope you do, too! I hope that if a new goal comes up, we will not wait until this day a year from now to make that change. I hope to continue living in the now while setting strategic moves to get where I am going and land where I want to be.

I also hope the world will lighten up in the coming year.

I hope that the world starts to blur its colors and that we all (including me) find ways of loving one another based on who we are as humans and not the color of our skin or our political beliefs. I hope we don’t wait.

Why not start now?

Happy New Year!