Despite all
the good intentions bubbling out of my very pores at the beginning of 2015, my
regular blog came to a screeching halt after a single posting. I didn’t plan it
that way, but life has a way of changing all our plans.
This year, for
whatever reason, seemed to be one of turmoil. Ferguson, followed by the “Black
Lives Matter” movement, ISIS, marriage definitions, gender definitions, riots
at home, terrorism on the rise at home and abroad— all these and more have put
the country and the world on edge. Political and racial divisions are as deep
as ever. Anger seems to be the defining emotion.
For me, the
year has been so full and busy it seems to have passed in the blink of an eye. It’s
a struggle to even remember what I did or accomplished. Rather than steering
the boat of my life down the river of the year, it’s more like I hit a roaring
rapids and lost my oars.
But here are a few highlights/lessons I learned along the
way…
· Never take a cruise at Christmas time. You will
discover that enjoying the beauty and warm air of the Caribbean doesn’t hold a
candle to spending this joyful holiday with your loved ones.
· Flying somewhere is no match for a road trip.
But if you’re going to take one, make it leisurely and see the sights. You will
be glad you did.
· Turn off your television. If you don’t, it will
steal every last moment of your life it can get its hands on; and it gives you
nothing in return.
· We tend to stop celebrating our birthdays from
about age 40 to 69 or so. Celebrate
every birthday! You may reach 90 (like my dear old dad has this year)… but the
truth is, we have no guarantee of tomorrow. Every day is a gift. Don’t cheat
yourself out of the joy of life by pining over your age.
· Dream and plan. Your dreams and plans may or may
not work out, but dream and plan anyway. If you don’t, you’re deliberately
tossing your oars in the water.
· Your children are not clone copies of yourself
(thank God!) Love them for who they are. And when they grow up, love them for
who they are. They usually forgive you for all the mistakes you made raising
them.
· When you fall off the wagon (whatever wagon
you’re riding), dust yourself off and get back on. Where there’s life, there’s
hope.
I feel like the prodigal child when it comes to my blog.
After a couple months of posting nothing, I was ashamed to even open the page
and look at it. The more time that went by, the more loathe I was to even think
about blogging ever again. I even considered dismantling the blog site
altogether. Such is the progression of self-despising behavior. Who wants to
read what I have to say, anyway?
And that might be true. Or it might not.
Either way, I’m climbing back onto my blog-wagon.
The internet is a marvelous structure. Never before could
an average “Joe” speak his mind to the world. My love of writing may never
produce a published work, but the internet has allowed me to pursue my love of
writing all the same. In a sense, this blog is the fulfillment of my lifelong
dream to become a writer. Whether anyone reads it or not is, for the moment,
irrelevant.
Certainly, this past year has been a year of turmoil,
both public and private. And turmoil is distasteful and difficult to endure.
But without turmoil, change is nearly impossible. Turmoil drives us to fix
what’s wrong, to seek a better way, to learn and grow, to reinvent ourselves,
to figure out what’s really important.
Image Credits:
smallbiztrends.com
paulojorgeviera.wordpress.com