We are a few days into the New Year and there is still an air of anticipation of what will happen. What disaster is lurking around the corner. A pandemic? Global warming? War? We have become cautious over the last several years. Families fighting both verbally and physically over political choices. Gone are the days where people lived their lives without a need to convince people that they know best for everyone. That their way of thinking is the right and only way to think. People now question the medical community and the reason to simply take a flu shot. Before, you either took one, or not. No big speech about why to take one, and why you shouldn’t. It makes me sad. I like to live in what my family calls my “Hallmark World”. Even Hallmark is under attack these days. It’s hard to look forward and put the Happy in the New Year.
No matter what, the Sun will come up in the East and set in the West. Actually, that’s not really true. The Sun only rises due East and due West twice a year, the Spring and Fall equinoxes, so it’s Eastish and Westish, but it is always there. Unless you are up North where it goes away for months at a time and, well, you get the picture. But the day always starts, no matter what. Therefore, I have 365 chances to start a new day. 365 new beginnings. The question is how will I use these 365 chances?
In January and February, it’s easy, we have all of these days we can “accomplish” something. We plan to do about 475 days worth of stuff in the New Year. It feels like we have all the time in the world. We buy boxes to organize our lives. We have plans, so many plans! It’s a time for life to slow down and do projects we like to do. Read a book, binge watch something, cook more at home, exercise! Our lives are in a routine. We then look back and realize that we really haven’t accomplished anything at all! But we still have 298 days left! March is our first “do over”.
Where I live, March through May shows us the first season change as Winter and Spring collide and make up some very crazy weather. January and February are usually cold. Then March comes with a new label. Spring Break! Not the school break one, but the time when flowers and trees are starting to show themselves. That time when the air turns a bit warmer and you find yourself looking to go outside. You make plans. BIG plans! You are going to reinvent yourself for the summer season, see yourself thinner and hanging at the pool! Having cookouts with friends and family! Your home will be perfect for entertaining and your yard will be award winning. After all, we have 206 days left.
Our next “do over” comes in June. We’re almost half way through the year. We look back and see what we have, and have not accomplished. By now, we have abandoned the plans from the first half of the year, and now have a whole new set of plans! This time will be different! We will have “the best summer ever”. We plan vacations, camps, outings, then before you know it, Labor Day has arrived. We still have 114 days left.
Our next “do over” comes in September. We are looking toward the beginning of the Holiday season. Lot’s of family, fun and stress. We have promised ourselves that we will not over do it, we will get things done sooner, rather than later, we will make this Holiday Season the best, not only for others, but ourselves as well! Then it happens. The count down. The ball is about to drop and the biggest “do over” is about to begin. A New Year. 365 new chances.
For me, I hope to do things differently this year. I want to enjoy the moments. Have experiences. At the age of 63, it’s time to look at my 365 chances in a whole new light. I realize that when I get together with family and friends, they want to enjoy each others company, that’s all. Good Friends equal Good Times. I now have time for more travel and have made plans to do so. I realize what is good for me, isn’t always good for someone else. We may all be in the same storm, we just are in different boats.
Use your 365 chances to the fullest. And if it doesn’t work out. There is always a “do over.”
Take Care, Kim
Bucket Lists & Life Stories 
Beautifully thought out and written, Kim! I look forward to more of your posts – I always loved, from the first time we ever met, how insightful and thoughtful you are…how upbeat and optimistic, and how you always are able to look at the big picture, rather than get mired in the details that I seem to get so caught up in. Love that about you, and always have. We need more, More, MORE of you in this crazy world! 🙂
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