Like many people, I have mixed feelings about New Year resolutions. While I’m all for self-improvement, I don’t like to see people greet the next twelve months feeling already defeated by some notion they had last January. Not me. Not anyone.
Yes. Yes. Yes. We should all be better, stronger, faster. But this is a strange and challenging world. The eighty or so years we hopefully get isn’t enough time to really get the hang of it. We’re all new here.
Here’s what I suggest: Try to take the year ahead as it comes. Cultivate patience and gentleness toward yourself and others. I know life feels like it’s getting faster all the time, but…it isn’t. Take a deep breath and say it again. It isn’t. The year, the month, the day, the hour, are just as long as they ever were. Claim the right to set your own pace, if only in small ways.
I wish you and yours a joyful and fulfilling 2014.