Happy New Year!
I do wish you all a very happy new year. Now when we reflect on the words ‘happy new year’, what do we really mean? Do we greet people because it is tradition? Or do we greet them because we sincerely want to bring them the very best wishes for a memorable new year? And because we do want to sincerely wish them well, we follow up our standard greeting with a more personalized message and this time, this second message is something that takes into account how the other person’s previous year has been.
For example, saying Happy New Year to a grieving family may not be the best thing to say unless we follow the phrase up with ‘and may this year bring you comfort and strength. Sending you love and prayers.’ Or, when greeting a friend who lost their job and has just returned to the workforce, we can add ‘Wishing you all the best on your new job!’, etc.
There are a million and one ways to personalize an otherwise very standard greeting and this is always recommended if you want to make the other feel that the message was intended for them.
The New Year is always a promise for everyone: better times, better career, good news, recovery from an illness, reunion with a long-lost family or friend, etc. The list is long but we all have hopes in our hearts that each new year will be better than the previous years but wishing is one thing; working on your goal is the other more important thing. It is the more difficult task but it is doable. We want to all look forward to a better life but we all want to remember that a better life begins with being a better person. By being better, we don’t mean being better than someone else because comparing ourselves to others can be a breeding ground for envy, frustration or unhealthy competition. By being better, we mean ‘being better than we were last year’. I would pause and look at how I was last year and build progress from there. I would list down the great things I did, as well as the things I have not accomplished and make this list my starting point.
Lists will surely not be accomplished 100% by the end of the year, but will certainly be partly accomplished and that is always something good. Evaluating our previous year is a great way to becoming a better person because there will be no better point of reference than our previous year not only because this is our own personal experience but because the past year was also based on our resources, the support we received and lastly, our attitude. In other words, we always work around things that are relevant to us, and that is what will make our dreams reachable. Let’s live within our means and dream within our world and not in someone else’s. When we achieve one goal, let’s be happy and give ourselves a pat on the back; then we move on to our next goal. We want to take things one step at a time and not overwhelm ourselves. Remember, we want to enjoy the fruits of our hard work.
Lastly, and this one I have to learn to do myself — let’s give ourselves some time to wind down and relax during the day because we deserve it. True. I have always been a workaholic, always forgetting to take a break. I would always say ‘I have to do this today because tomorrow may not come’. This time, I am going to say ‘I have done what I am capable of for the day and I have spent my time wisely. Anything that is left undone, I can do tomorrow because tomorrow IS another day.’
So yes, count your blessings. Be proud of what you can accomplish and don’t beat yourself up for not completing your tasks today. Who says that tomorrow is not going to come? It will and it will be better than today.
Happy New Year and may this year bring you countless blessings and grant you every reason to smile and be content. 🙂
