Happy New Year! is the hopeful refrain, the mantra we repeat each time the planet revolves around the burning star. This past year has been instructive, but generally very difficult for me, but I have learned at least something worth taking on into the next year.
It is extraordinary (but mundane, of course, really) that a decade has come to an end. This time last decade (1999) I was painted silver, (unwisely using car paint) and sporting papier mache angel wings, at a friend’s ‘futuristic’ themed house party, surrounded by people I cared about. I am still friends with a lot of those good people, but sadly some I have lost touch with. In some instances it was fate, in others, my own efforts. So it goes.
Regrets are inevitable in a life filled with decisions, this decade has given me deep regrets, but also great and profound experiences. I met and connected with some wonderful people. I know that I made the wrong decisions in some instances, but I could not have done otherwise. Hindsight is never there when you need it, by definition.
I fell in love and I fucked it up, I worked hard doing things I believed in, tried to do some good. Had some seriously close shaves. Realised that I had a lot of things that had happened to me in my life that I hadn’t ever sorted out. Took steps to sort them out. I gave up smoking. Learned to like food. Got fatter. Got fitter. Played some music. Essentially, lots of things happened. good and bad.
With the year ahead I hope to make better choices, I hope to be happier, I hope. That is what we do.
Happy new year! I hope that it is a good one for you.
It is snowing.