I'm posting this now and getting a little bit of a head start on the rest of you who will be posting something like this on new years eve I assume.
2016 was a great year.
Yes, bad things happened. Yes, terrible things happened. To you. To your family. To people all over the world. As you read this someone is being murdered. Someone is breathing their last painful breath. A city is burning. There may very well be an immeasurable amount of collective sadness pooling on the biosphere. I cannot prove that there isn't.
However. Despite all of those things, this was a great year. Take a moment and think of some of those great things. They may not be social media post worthy, they may not be international news worthy, but they're there I'm sure of it. For starters you're here to read this. Unless something tragic happens to you in the next week or so, you will have survived another enormous cycle around a giant ball of burning gas, floating on a water covered rock in deep, dark, cold space. Think about that fact alone. It's horrifyingly beautiful and very true. Every moment cannot be utter bliss and equally so every moment cannot be miserable. There is a balance and more importantly our perception dictates how good or bad the world around is. We can argue all day whether things are good or bad, but how we get through or past and beyond every day matters. It does. I'm no perky positive world traveler by any stretch of the imagination so don't go thinking that's the reason for me writing this. Nor am I delusional or diversionary and seeing only good and nothing else. I have terrible days. Horrible bouts of anxiety and worse. This isn't about that. I'm writing this simply because of perspective. We need it, or more of it in my opinion. It's not just about looking at the less fortunate and being thankful you're not them, but looking at the less fortunate and knowing how easily it could be you. Just a slight shift in one direction or another, an adjustment too soon or too late and it could have been you on the news, in the coffin, in jail, on fire or any myriad of horrors the infinite universe hurls in our direction. Not to say you're going to walk out of 2016 completely unscathed but you're going to finish. You'll live to fight another day, if you're lucky.
It's almost like some kind of trendy mantra. I see sentences beginning with "2016 sucked" or "this year was the worst..." etc. Was it? Was it just a list of loss and let downs? Is there nothing you're thankful for, happy about, proud of? Did you overcome nothing? I don't believe what I'm reading. It seems like just another trendy thing to post online. To be part of the collective group-think hate of whatever the thing of the moment is. It's the end of the year so I suppose that's the thing to pile on. I'm not really sure though. Most people I know and see and interact with have it pretty good. No I don't know your whole struggle. Money, home life, work are just a few things that make up our everyday and yes for some of us it's not good. I'm working two jobs and I'm broke. I get it, but life is chess not checkers. A great line I recently heard from comedian Tracy Morgan. It takes time to see through to a goal. Patience. We have very little. We have stuff. Plenty of stuff. A new phone to bitch on. Computer to watch porn and bitch on. New shoes. Stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. I'm working at UPS, I see the boxes. 100,000 a day. Yet, everyone sounds miserable. Claiming this was the worst year. What I truly attempt to do everyday and what I want you to try to do too is appreciate the moment. This moment. Practice gratitude. Simple stuff. I don't pray. I don't have a smile plastered to my face 24/7 but I try very hard to be happy in the moment. Enjoy the uncomfortable. Your job sucks. So will the next one unless you take your deep breath and try to live in-between not caring and caring. Not taking things too seriously but still functioning. The voice of your ego that fights with your other voice all day in your head isn't necessarily reality. Try to find the balance.
I don't want to ramble or make too many different points. I think you at this point know what I'm getting at. I didn't write this to have people agree or disagree with it nor am I equipped to prescribe anything of any kind lol. I just wanted to share this idea, this thought with you. I hope your year ends on a positive note and the cold dark winter doesn't break your spirit.
Expect nothing and accept everything. I try to do this because it's better than the cynical bitter option.
See you soon,
Lou
