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Forging a Better New Year
“You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge one for yourself.” — James A. Froude
Ninety seven out of a hundred of us would say we hope for better in the New Year. We know where we’ve failed in the past or where we don’t measure up to the height of our ambitions. We want change and we want it our way, a desire which rarely works according to our wishes.
Every year we are offered 365 days for change. Some of us take advantage of this with the gusto of a Spanish bull fighter, others take a less aggressive approach and do everything they can to avoid the very possibility of change. Locking themselves away from anything which would rupture the delicate balance they have attempted to create.
Change is unavoidable, we are its victims or favorites. We don’t have the option to remain who we are, life takes it away from us the moment we think we’ve possessed it. Instead, we are forced to experience changes which are as naturally occurring as the seasons themselves. The small changes are rarely felt consciously, daily shifts we experience like the slow movement of a ship across the ocean. The radical changes are the ones we experience consciously, the thrashing of life against our hulls as the wind wails against the sails of our small ships.
Our best attitude is to embrace the reality of change and guide it as best we can. Funneling the violence of the sea as we navigate our way to new shores. To accomplish this we can’t merely throw ourselves blindly into the fray, hoping against all odds to be the fool treasured enough by God to escape unharmed. We need to look to three important attitudes as our only way to intentionally forge a better New Year.
Preparation
The foundation of any successful endeavor is the preparation which went into it. Too often we instead stand at the sidelines, watching the opportunities we have craved and prayed for, pass us by, unable to seize them.
Skills and knowledge are openly available in the modern age, with a few clicks of the mouse you can find a class to teach you anything. The internet is an incredible resource to learn whatever it is which you need to scratch your particular itch.
