Welcome 2024

Welcome 2024

Happy New Year everyone! My wish for you would be all things bright and beautiful in the coming year. 2023 was certainly one for the books and everyone I know appeared to be making up for time that was lost during the Covid pandemic. Our family saw no shortage of firsts, events, travels and more. Carefully dividing our time between family, friends, travels and work we began filling weekends, and then the weeks, and before we knew it, the months had very little free time, and we began scheduling Christmas activities. Where did the year go? From Alberta to Ontario. Manitoba to Quebec. From California, to Nevada, to Georgia, to Tennessee and back to California. From Indonesia to Mexico we flew around the globe like birds without a nest. Occasionally our little one was with us, other times she was not. We took turns parenting and juggling the turbulence of life, creating memories, celebrating birthdays, and trying our best to turn moments into quiet stillness. 2023 was a very busy, and very full year. I am grateful for all the friends and family that we were able to travel with. I am blessed to have created such fond memories with my wife and daughter. And I am lucky that work allowed a certain freedom to give us the opportunity to do so many things. Thank you Universe. 

“There are two things we should give our children: one is roots, the other is wings.”

-author unknown-

My New Years wish is for world peace, because unlike the year our family had. There are many families that are displaced right now, many kids without homes, and many areas of the world that are full of destruction. We are blessed to be living where we do, and doing the things we love without worry of what devastating thing tomorrow might bring. I could wish for many things that I would love to bring into my life, but this would be really selfish considering the life I already have. 

After reading the above paragraph, It may sound and look as though our 2023 was unbelievable, and for the most part, it was pretty great. However, the year was not without some uncertainty, pain, grief, unrest and sorrow. I simply choose to write about all the positive things and focus less on the negative. In a world full of social media, we all do this to some extent. We post images and tell stories of all the great things in our lives. Occasionally, we will post a rant, an ideology, something upsetting or negative, but generally, people do not want the rest of the world to see the bad shit in their lives. Okay, maybe some do. For me, I do not like to broadcast all the crap in my life for others to see. Besides, everyone else has their own negativities to cope with, why would they want to hear mine. I share my troubles with those closest to me if I really want to off load them onto somebody, but mostly, I write them down and dispose of them.  I suppose there is a part of society that like seeing others not doing well, but the good in me believes that is because those individuals are struggling themselves, and just want to know that they are not alone. Well let me assure you with 100% certainty, you are not alone. Everyone has garbage, issues and unsettlement in their lives but choose differently on how to handle those. Personally, I only share this because I do not want people thinking that my life is all rosy. It is not, but I am a fairly positive individual with an optomistic perspective. My wife would be the only person who witnesses the darker side of me, which hopefully, she would say is not too often. This is the advantage or disadvantage of being married to someone. They get the best and worst of their spouse. There is just too much negativity in the world and I don’t feel it’s necessary for me to contribute back to it. Sure I can, or will engage in conversation expressing displeasure with things but I only do so for the sake of conversation. God knows there is a lot one can complain about in 2023. Inflation, interest rates, housing and grocery costs, carbon tax, to mention a few. 

This year is slightly different for me. It is one of the first times ever that I enter into the new year without any goals. My goal/vision board that hangs in our gym is blank. It makes a real good colouring board for Madex. Will I write something on it? Will I map out a strategy? I really don’t know. My attitude towards it right now is, meh, or unengaged. I do have things I want to accomplish and I certainly have dreams still, but my feelings toward them are as blank as that board hanging there. It is new terrain for me and one that I am not very familiar with. I have many good habits, hobbies and routines that will carry me down a solid path but I have no real passion right now to set any new ones. Oddly enough, I have already scheduled something that was written there last year and never got accomplished, confirming that subconsciously I am working towards something. But in all seriousness, it bothers me not if I was to get it done. I have always lived with the philosophy that if you don’t have a plan for your life, someone else does. Yet, for the first time ever, I feel that I do not need to have a plan. Deep down, rooted in the fabric of my mind the plan is there. It is quite simple and so clear that it needs no elaboration. Everything else is just noise, at which I will deal with, when I hear it.

People often tell me that I’m too analytical, that I think too much. Those people are right, I do think too much. I am thinking and pondering all the time, so much that it affects my sleep. I don’t think I can stop this, but I do think I can quiet it. This is my personal goal for the year, to quiet my thinking. No maps, no strategies, just dealing with the noise and letting my good habits, hobbies and routines carry out my seeded plan. I will obviously try to have fewer bad habits, but will not dwell on them too much as we are all imperfect. I will try to be more caring, more forgiving, and more loving, but only to those who reciprocate these attributes. Time, which I will devote an entire blog to, is our greatest commodity, and I will not waste it on those individuals who are callous. I will try to do some things that are new, and at least one thing that intimidates or scares me a little. I will try not to overwork, and continue to spend most of my time with family and friends. I will work to be patient with my wife and daughter, and will prize any and all time that is shared with them. I will be more grateful for my health, and try not to take it for granted too often. I will continue to travel, but less than 2023, putting greater emphasis on remaining closer to home. 

I enter into 2024 with a very open and mellow mind. I resist the urge to really pencil much in even though my wife is already trying to book some travel. With an open mind I will listen for the cues, watch for the signs, and act upon internal urges to guide me in the direction I’ll move. With that, I welcome 2024 and am excited to see what the universe throws along my path. I hope that everyone enjoys the year ahead. 

Imagining