And here they are:
Day: December 30, 2017
Almost Over
The year 2017 is almost over and many of us are quite happy about that. It was, in the macro sense, a pretty shitty year. Can the upcoming year be any worse?
Personally speaking, though, 2017 wasn’t a bad year. I retired at the end of last year and managed to survive. Someone once told me that fifty percent of men die within their first year of retirement. I don’t know if that’s true, but if it is, I’m happy to still be among the living.
No one I personally know died in 2017, which is a good thing. And my wife and I remain relatively heathy for aging Baby Boomers, so there’s that, as well.
I also started this blog in May of 2017, and I consider that to be an accomplishment. And my wife is happy about it because it keeps me occupied and out of her hair.
So while 2017 saw the world cratering, I’m doing okay. I just hope that next year at this time, when 2018 is almost over, I will not be calling it yet another truly shitty year.
Assuming, of course, the world doesn’t end and I live through my second year of retirement.
Written for today’s one-word prompt, “almost.”
SoCS — Be It Resolved
Linda G. Hill chose the word “resolution” for this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, which is an apt word to choose, given that today is the last Saturday of 2017 and it’s a time when many of us are making our New Year’s resolutions.
Many people use the approaching new year to take stock of their lives. They look behind at the past year and reflect on their achievements and failures. Often, they focus on the mistakes they made, their broken promises, and unfulfilled dreams. They resolve to improve themselves, to get a fresh start as the brand new year commences.
New Year’s resolutions are an effort to reinvent oneself; they are a form of self-motivation. People make them with the hope of changing their lives for the better. Unfortunately, most such resolutions are not kept for very long. So why bother?
New Year’s resolutions are all about hopefulness and people have been making these annual resolutions for centuries. The act of creating such resolutions has reportedly been around since Babylonian times, when the Babylonians were said to have made promises to the gods in the hope that they’d earn good favor in the coming year.
Some sources say that the tradition of New Year’s resolutions dates back to around 150 BC. January is named after the mythical early Roman god Janus, who had two faces, which allowed him to look both back on the past (the old year) and forward toward the future (the new year).
This became a symbolic time for Romans to make resolutions for the new year and forgive enemies for troubles in the past. Janus would forgive the Romans for their wrongdoings in the previous year, and, based upon gifts and promises, would bless them in the year ahead.
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. It’s not that I’m perfect and there’s no room for improvement. That’s far from the case. But I don’t like that feeling of failure when my resolutions to get more exercise or to eat healthier or to watch less TV inevitably fall short. So if I don’t make any New Year’s resolutions, I won’t beat myself up for not being able to keep them.
Having said that, the one resolution I do plan to keep is to continue blogging, so long as it’s still fun, fulfilling, and doesn’t become a burden.
Happy New Year, fellow bloggers. And for those of you who do make New Year’s resolutions, best of luck. The odds of success are against you.
This, That, and the Other 