Well, here we are! It’s 2022, a year that would have sounded like science fiction lore if brought up during my childhood. By the LIGHT, am I ever old… It’s been a hell of a year, with a number fo life-changing things that have taken place. Let’s take a tally, shall we? 2021 saw me retire from the Force and accept a new job that has made life better in scores. My oldest son turned 7, my youngest son turned 2 and my wife and I celebrated 7 years of wonderful marriage. Our basement got renovated, making it liveable once again and doubling our living space. We have effectively cleared most of our disposable debt and have built on the prospect of preparing for retirement, which is not as far as away as one might think.
As with all things in life, for every positive there is a negative. And 2021 certainly had no shortage of those. At some point during the height of the pandemic, my father was rushed to the hospital by ambulance for what appeared to be some sort of respiratory issue. given the lockdowns and restrictions in place at the time, not only was I unable to fly back to New Brunswick to support my family but my mother was even restricted from entering the hospital to see him, in the event that he had contracted COVID-19. Doctors didn’t expect him to survive the night and my mother could do nothing more than say goodbye over the telephone and I was stuck, 3,400 kilometres away. That definitely hammered the pandemic home, for me. Luckily, my father survived and they determined that it was only pneumonia.
I never imagined I would ever think “just a pneumonia,” but here we are. The point is, the last year has seen some good, some bad and some ugly. Such is life. And today is the day when most people are starting to establish resolutions for themselves with the hopes of accomplishing them throughout 2022. That’s great and all, and I admit to being on that bandwagon on more occasions than I can recall. Also as usual, we have the typical denomination of the population who enjoy using the slogan “this year’s gonna be my year.” Entertaining. Slightly naive, albeit it a little positive. But I think that this year, I’m going to try to do things a little different. And I’ll challenge all who are reading this, to do the same.
I won’t be trying to make any New Year’s resolutions, this year. Instead, I’m going to focus my efforts on simply being a better person and improving upon myself a little at a time, day after day. this will mean ensuring a healthier lifestyle, eating and sleeping better and getting back into a fitness routine that actually, well… a routine! I’m going to return to the martial arts, having found a karate school that is closely related to my original style. My goal will be to slim down, regain some lost skill and reflexes and hopefully get my children interested in the martial arts, as well. As I’ve written in some previous posts, my youngest son has shown some affinity to striking and using a punching bag. Maybe I can build on that.
Instead of trying to make 2022 “my year,” I’m going to work towards making every day “my day,” focusing on being present in the here and now. Not only is this far easier than claiming the entire year, it makes it all the easier to recover in the event that something goes wrong or poorly. After all, the loss of a single day is better than the loss of an entire year, wouldn’t you agree? And since we can agree that life doesn’t care about one’s plan and that the positive can’t exist without the negative, it’s far better to be prepared for some of that negative than to expect to expel it from one’s life completely.
I would challenge all of my readers to try and do the same. If there’s one thing that the past two years have taught us, it’s that it may be nice to make a resolution to lose weight, travel more, read X-number of books, learn a new skill or whatever else you may have in mind. But it’s even better (and easier) to make your overall life better in all areas, and work towards improving yourself FOR yourself, in all aspects. You’ll be happier and better for it. Happy New Year. Glad I started it with some food for thought… ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 