It will not have escaped your attention that it’s a new year; in fact, we’re more than a week into 2014 and I’ve not written anything about resolutions or plans, or the exciting things I might be getting up to in the next 12 months. There’s a good reason for that – I’ve not really made any resolutions this year, for the first time in more years than I can remember. It’s not that I’m not eagerly anticipating a fresh start, and the opportunity to have my metaphoric slate wiped clean, it’s just that I don’t need the pressure of a diet or a deadline. I don’t want to set myself up to fail, or prescribe what activities I can take part in. I want to be more spontaneous, to take opportunities as they arise, and see what happens, rather than chart some prescriptive course that I feel I can’t deviate from; beating myself up for perceived failures and those swerves from the straight and narrow.
There should always be self-improvement in being open-minded, striving to do new things, meet new people, go new places. We are always changing and growing if we are alive to possibility. This year I’m remembering that life really is more about the journey than the destination, and although being ‘of the moment’ is both clichéd and probably a bit jaundiced, it is also true nonetheless that we might as well live for and enjoy today because we have no idea what tomorrow holds.
There’s a place for objectivising our achievements and challenging ourselves to do more and be more, but there should also be time for simply ‘being’; walking the path today and seeing what happens and making the most of opportunities that might be missed if we have our eyes fixed on something ahead that we think we should be aiming for.
Now, where’s the shredder? I need to ditch those ‘to do’ lists for a start!
Photo, copyright D Ruppenthal, please do not use without permission