New Year’s Eve

Another year ends. Tomorrow a new year starts its journey through time. Year after year this has happened and will as far as we know. And hope.

This year our family sorrowed through two close deaths. Who may be on this list in 2026? Will we be challenged again by loss? Surely the odds are for this to happen. It is the storyline of life. We must prepare for the empty space, but this should teach us to honor and value our loved ones while they remain with us.

If course, we know this. Instinctively we know this. Avoidance is our first thought, and we go with that. It keeps the peace. We feel fine. But then, the loss occurs and we are thrown by it.

Better that we own the reality and face it. Best if we prepare for the shock before it is needed while it reminds us to value all who surround us. This is so simple; very simple. And yet the lesson to be learned remains unfinished.

The positive new year promises new beginnings, new experiences, growth and improvements. We take this for granted, I think. Too bad because negativity automatically fills the blank spaces. It is natural. So, let’s do the positive!

Careers grow. Creativity challenges new things. Excitement grows as we enlarge perspectives and see more, experience more. We are not the same person today as we were yesterday. Same for tomorrow. On and on it goes. The new is offered always if we look for it.

At the end of a career there is something. We don’t always know what it is, but we spend time learning things we didn’t have time before to see. We pursue new activities, some very much like our old ones, but still, we find value in all of it and wonder why we didn’t know this about ourselves before. Interesting realization. One of the rewards of retirement.

Watching generations replace themselves is another wonder. Repeatedly we birth new life. Each is a fresh start, a chance to make things better, or at least different. With planning and intention we will make it better.

Yes, many things that we don’t want to happen will happen anyway. That’s life. But always we can work for the positive.

Let’s make that the ‘new’ in the new year.

December 31, 2025

 

 

 

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