(From one of my favorite classic films, Holiday)
“Dear old world’, she murmured, ‘you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
On one level I recognize that today is Friday. It is just like any other Friday, with the same potential for uses wise or wasteful, the same potential for good or ill. Perhaps the only exception to most Fridays in a 365 day period is that, for some, this is a paid holiday.
On another level this is a particularly auspicious Friday, for it is Friday, January 1st, 2016. The start of a new year.
For all of you being born this day, welcome! It truly is the first day of the rest of your life. For the rest of us, it is a day to mark a new beginning, even if it seems like that is only true in the sense that we will be writing a new number whenever we place a date on something.
I have always liked to look at the new year as a time to start fresh. It is, admittedly, an artificial, calendar-prompted time to take stock and think about goals for the next 365 days. I have had years in which I have laid out many “resolutions” that I would like to accomplish, and others where those were very few in number. This year I’m leaning much more towards the “few” end of the spectrum, as I truly want to dedicate time to those things that matter to me.
Most of what I want to accomplish in 2016 is already well established. I am active in my church, focusing on time with family and friends, meeting the challenges at work with a dedicated team, and am largely happy with where I am at in my life. In those areas it is not so much about doing anything “new” as it is the challenge of prioritizing and making sure that “activities” or “things” never overshadow relationships. God, family, friends….me. There will always be work in these areas, and there is a simple word to sum that up: “life”.
One area I want to particularly refocus on is my health. A number of years ago I started running, exercising, and eating better which resulted in a great deal of weight loss and an increase in both happiness and health. My dedication was sporadic in 2015, which resulted in my missing out on several trail runs that I hoped to participate in, and a weight gain of 15 pounds. Since I started 2015 about 5 pounds heavier due to slacking off during that holiday season, I want to drop 20 pounds, and I intend to do it the same healthy way I did before: exercise that I enjoy (which means mostly running) and eating balanced meals and snacks heavy on natural foods and light on the processed junk.
This isn’t something I need to “resolve” to do, as there aren’t big lifestyle changes I need to make as I already made those long ago. I just need to take fewer breaks this year and I’m very excited about getting back into running regularly.
My reading took a dive in 2015 as far as number of books completed, but given how pleased I was with most of what I read, I don’t see that as a negative and I don’t have any goal to reach in 2016. Reading has always been for pleasure, and it will continue to be that way. Last year I read more nonfiction than is my usual habit and I see that continuing in 2016.
Over the past year I followed the influence of some good friends who began to declutter their lives. I haven’t been as focused on it, but I have culled my bookshelves quite a bit and cut way back on purchasing new books beginning back in August. The result was that I had more money with which to do other things and have decreased the piles of books laying around unread. Like many of you who are readers, I have more than enough material in my home to be an active reader without adding to the shelves, and I plan to do less buying and more reading of what I have in 2016.
There are a number of events I look forward to in 2016:
Vintage Science Fiction Month
The Trail Nerds 2016 slate of events
Celebrating Mary’s birthday in March
Kansas City’s Planet Comicon
MidAmeriCon II, the return of WorldCon to Kansas City
2016 is going to be an interesting year. The world is a mess and I suspect that this will only get worse. Now more than ever I feel that it is important to be an active participant in life. I plan to be engaged in the world I inhabit, much as I was in 2015. There will be lots of fun to be had, I am sure, but challenges as well and my goal is to face them with courage and joy.
I opened the post with a quote from L.M. Montgomery, and wanted to share these as well:
“It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”
― L.M. Montgomery
I am, and trust I always will be, an optimist. As I type this I can hear the Monty Python troop singing, “Always look on the bright side of life…”. It didn’t use to be such a challenge, but social media tends to drag even optimists down into the dumps.
Less than thirty minutes after getting out of bed for the day I found my Facebook feed littered with links to poorly reasoned articles denigrating religious leaders, stirring political strife, fueling paranoia and championing having a bad attitude.
*Sigh*
Gratefully I also saw birth announcements, links to positive, healthy ways to improve health, some awesome fireworks displays, and well-wishes for a wonderful 2016.
As the political battles heat up, I hope we can all remember that we are fellow travelers on this big blue ball and treat each other with dignity and respect, even if we are completely opposed to each others belief systems/ideologies/political leanings/etc. It is a Pollyanna hope, I know, but I will cling to it nonetheless.
I wish each and every one of you a satisfying 2016, filled with love and laughter. I wish for you to have supportive family and friends around you when those inevitable challenges come, and I pray that you look back on the year as one that saw positive growth and change.
I look forward to greeting each day fresh, and sharing those days with you.
To stick with the Canadian quote theme:
“Remember, I’m pulling for ya. We’re all in this together!”
~Red Green
Lovely sentiments, Carl. Just reading this post makes me excited for my own challenges this year. Have fun and I look forward to more of your blog in 2016!
Thanks Tammy. I hope 2016 defies all your best expectations.
I’m an optimist myself, and honestly have little need for snarkiness, hatefulness, and the kind of general mental mayhem that permeates social media. Last year, I stopped reading the comment sections on news sites, and culled my Twitter feed. It improved my life greatly, with very little effort. Here’s to more of the same, this year.
You already have evidence of one of my little resolutions for 2016: “Don’t just read blogs. Say something.” So, I’ll say — Happy New Year! I’m looking forward to seeing what the new year brings for you.
So wonderful to hear from you, Linda. I have been doing less comment reading in news sites too, and even limiting how often I go to them. I feel it is important to stay on top of current events to some degree, and yet I find I am so much happier when I don’t focus much in that direction and instead spend my energies focusing on what is happening good in the world. I think we should all spend 2016 counteracting all the crap and find great stories of people doing acts of kindness for their fellow women and men and inundate Facebook with those links.
Happy New Year to you.
Happy 2016 to you and Mary…
Wow, I haven’t seen that movie in eons! So many good old movies..sometimes too many memories. Right now the Rose Parade is on tv, like the Macy parade it’s little of what hasn’t changed much in my life time. But, I can’t go there if I want to get thru today and on to another.
I did much good reading this year, and do agree that it’s not how many we read, but that we enjoy what we do read and how we spend the time in between reading. I will always be grateful to you for expanding my tastes in reading, that’s another thing not changed.
You’ll never know how I wish I was an optimist like you…. I don’t know why I am not, or how anyone becomes either and optimist or pessimist. I guess it’s just how life happens.
I am glad we met via the internet so long ago.. and I always and glad to hear what you and Mary are up to!
Stay safe.. Healthy.. and happy in 2016 Carl. x0x0
It is crazy to think we all hooked up before Facebook really took off. It was a nicer time in many ways because we were taking time to have more conversations back and forth, and yet sites like FB allow us to at least keep in some kind of daily contact, which is in itself a good thing.
I’ve always been more positive than negative. Even when I get angry about something it tends to go away quickly as I tend to gravitate towards trying to understand the other side. Far from perfect, I am, as Yoda might phrase it, but I do try to lean more than way. And I think a big part of it is the conscious choice to not read all the crap that comes across my computer or phone on a daily basis. There is too much good happening in the world that needs to be lauded and praised, and then copied in my behavior, to spend a lot of time with the garbage.
Great post! Happy New Year, everyone!
Happy New Year to you, my love.
A happy new year to you as well!
Optimism is indeed the way to go, difficult as it might seem at times, because for me it’s the best kind of medicine…
As they said in “Galaxy Quest”: Never give up! Never surrender! 😀
You win the quote of the day contest. Galaxy Quest is always a good call.
I really love that Anne of Green Gables quote.
And as I am every January 1st, I’m looking forward to my baby, Vintage Month!
Very happy your baby has arrived once again. A Happy New Year, and a Happy Vintage SF Month, to you!
A lovely post, Carl. I love the Anne quotes you included. I sometimes find it difficult to stay optimistic, but Anne reminds me to do so. Happy New Year!
Thanks Amanda, Anne seemed like the best way to start the year. Happy New Year to you and your family.
Happy New Year to you too! * throws some confetti in your direction 🙂 *** Looks like you’ve led a full 2015 and like you, my return to running last year was sporadic, but I’m excited to get it going in 2016. I have a ton of races planned (in the vein of dreaming big)!
I’m dreaming big too, Tanya. Glad I am not alone in that. I hope we both see more of those running dreams realized this year than we did last year. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Carl!
Happy New Year to you too!
Happy New Year to you Carl! I’ve had a rough few years and have not been as social online – it’s easier to write on my own blog than interact with people, if that makes sense – but I feel like I’m finally starting to reemerge. My focus this year is on HEALING, and that involves so much more than just physical or emotional well-being. I look forward to hearing more from you in the new year, about your books and your trail runs and your journey. Also, notably, there’s a good possibility that the family will be heading up to Wisconsin again this summer, meaning we’ll be stopping close to your neck of the woods again – maybe if the timing is right, we can all meet up for dinner again. 🙂 Wishing you all the best in 2016!
It makes perfect sense, Amanda, believe me. I’m glad 2015 is over just because it was a rough year for you and it is nice to see the calendar change to have a fresh start. If you guys come our way, we would love to grab some food with you. I certainly wish lots and lots of healing for you in 2016. Happy New Year to you and all your family.
Happy New Year! I’m optimistic about 2016. I have a huge stack of books waiting for me to read them. There are a number of movies that suddenly arrived on Christmas–JOY, THE BIG SHORT, CAROL, etc–that I want to see before I go back to work. I’m looking forward to visiting your fine blog frequently and seeing what you’re up to!
I had just heard about Carol this morning, and The Big Short not at all. Joy has been getting quite a bit of play over the last month or so, so I was aware of that one. We had hoped to get out to a movie or two over our vacation, but I ended up being sick for several days and so we spent most of the time hunkered in at home watching television and reading…not a bad way to spend the holiday.
Thanks for sharing your positive thoughts. Love the Anne of Green Gables quotes!
Here I am coming late to the party. Lovely post, my friend, it’s obvious you have your head properly screwed on. Should be a fine year for you. I hope for more blog posts in 2016, the one thing I greatly missed last year.
I don’t see Spectrum on your list of events you’re looking forward to. Will you still be involved?
The problems you mention with social media are mostly the reasons I don’t participate. So I have no Facebook account, I don’t use Twitter, Instagram or any media progs except my blog and browser. That’s enough for me. I have need or desire to stay in touch with anyone every day – except my wife.
So without media to distract me, excepting a couple dozen blogs, and the ability to leave the TV off, I’m free to ignore most of the idiocy and woe and instead express my gratefulness for where and how I’m able to live, enjoy reading, gardening, walking (need more of that!) and general peacefulness. It’s a good thing.
Do I correctly read you are getting rid of books? Goodness. I’ve been tempted, but manage to divest of few. Perhaps this year I’ll donate more, or even take some boxes to Powell’s.
So happy new year, Carl. Now I’ll go shovel the walk.
Yes! Snow for two days, then freezing fog to ice everything up. Glad to have a fireplace, book, hot cup of soup. Also glad this only happens a few times a year
Happy New Carl! Wonderful goals for the year and I wish you all the best!