by Thando Mgobhozi
The beginning of a new year always feels like a fresh start, an opportunity to do things differently or to turn your life around. There’s this spirit during this time of the year where everyone is just positive and optimistic, it really feels like being given a second chance in life.
It is a really beautiful thing to witness people being excited about a new year even after the year before could have not been a good year for them. Anything could have happened and they could have given up on life with no will to live anymore especially because of the trying times that we live in right now. Every year always seems to start on a good note and most people have new year resolutions and plans for the year.
Halfway down the line when things do not seem to fall in place and things are not going their way, people start relaxing and lose hope in the fact that things will change and anything is still possible no matter their current situation. I think we have all been down that road and sometimes you can’t help the way you feel.
The start of a new year is very exciting but it also very overwhelming because you put so much pressure on yourself to work tirelessly throughout the year to achieve the goals that you have set for yourself and when that doesn’t happen you start to feel like you are not doing enough when in actual fact you are doing the best that you can and the best is all you can give.
There is nothing wrong about wanting your year to be different from your previous year and working hard to ensure that you don’t find yourself in the same situation that you were in the year before. I’d be more worried if you did not have any plans at all actually. You know what they say, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Nothing is going to change unless you do.
I have also come to the realization that every year has its own obstacles and good things about it. Bad things happen all the time and no one can run away from those challenges. It’s more about accepting that there will be challenges along the way and preparing yourself for those challenges so that you are not taken aback when they do arrive.
These obstacles should not fool you into believing that they will be there forever, in as much as they’ll be there, it does not take away the good and priceless moments that will also be present in your life. Set your goals and plans and have a vision board for the year ahead but don’t be too hard on yourself when things don’t go your way. Instead, wake up every day and see each day as an opportunity to do things differently from the day before. Treat every day as if it’s a new year and don’t wait for 2021 to make things happen.
Every day that you wake up to live is a blessing so treat it as such knowing that you can always try again tomorrow if today didn’t work out. Take and live life with your own pace and not other people’s paces.
If there is anything that life has taught me over the years is that time waits for no man. Just yesterday it was 2010 and we were celebrating the soccer World Cup. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be seeing 2020 so soon and that’s exactly 10 years later. So much has happened and changed already and so much is still going to happen and change. That is just the cycle of life, there’s always something happening every second, minute and hour just as a human being is experiencing life outside the womb and another taking their last breath.
