New Year 2022

Each new year is similar to the beginning of any new blog or writing mission. I love the notion of a blank page on which to write new things – things that I haven’t necessarily planned to write, but instead just flow naturally from my virtual pen. As with every new year, I have no idea how this blog is going to end, or what it will contain, but I have a few ideas in my mind from the outset. So here goes…

I don’t ever make New Year’s resolutions. By virtue of the fact that you choose to wait for a date to motivate you, they are likely to fade before January is out. If I want to make a change in my life, I generally do so as and when the mood takes me, relying on life’s natural self-motivational ebbs and flows. I tend to become swept up with social side of wishing people a Happy New Year, and will continue to do so, but even that sticks a little for me. Why restrict it to the New Year – and how long, exactly, does the New Year last? I’d rather say “Happy 2022”, as that will last a little longer than the unquantified period that the New Year represents. 

I remember once saying, “Good morning” to a particularly miserable and confrontational man. His response was a bitter, “What’s good about it?” I explained that I was merely wishing him a good morning. He had no response to this. In my workplace, I’m affectionately (I believe) known as Mr Pedantic, as I often challenge things that people take for granted such as flawed expressions. People tell me, “The sun’s bright today.” I say, “Of course it’s bright – it’s the sun. You’d be bright if you were a great big ball of burning gasses.” It’s all tongue-in-cheek humour, but my reputation now goes before me, and I am now indelibly tarnished with a name that doesn’t actually match my true demeanour. I even go as far as wishing people a good afternoon at 11.30am. People indignantly tell me that it’s still morning, but I remind them that morning is nearly over. Why should I only wish them happiness for the next 30 minutes when I could wish them happiness for the entire afternoon – whenever that ends. 

The whole pandemic situation has led people to naturally curse 2020 and 2021. They have been hard times for many of us, but as with most things, we mostly find that our luck evens itself out over all. There have probably been as many positive things happening to people as there have been negatives if all things are considered. We may have to step back a little to fully appreciate that sentiment, but it is how I feel on the whole, even though each individual’s circumstances may be different. 

My own situation is that when the pandemic first kicked in, I was only just beginning to recover from the cruelly-inflicted double trauma that began in my life in December 2017. Those who know me well will fully understand the extent of the trauma and the reasons why it was so serious, and the isolation of the lockdowns was very tough for me. But many people fared much worse, and I always tried to count my blessings. 

As we step into 2022, rather than see it as an end of 2021 and some kind of hopeful new beginning, I see it just as a continuation of time rather than a division of fortunes. My own life took a very positive upturn in November – the 28th of November, to be precise. That is where my new beginnings began to take shape. Well, with the butterfly effect, I could start a little earlier – I could even go back to 1989 as it happens, because if I hadn’t met a certain person then, I’d never have met, this year, a most wonderful woman who has turned my life upside-down. I am led to believe that I’ve had the same effect on her, but that isn’t really for me to say. I think I have enough evidence though. 

So, to me, this “1st of January” business is just a man-made constraint, where society has decided to point its bony forefinger at us and tell us what we should or shouldn’t do or expect. When I decided to lose weight, I did so for reasons that motivated me at a very different time of year. When I joined the gym, it was for the right reasons at the right time, and certainly not as a result of some New-Year-induced fancy. When I decided to write a book, it was in November 2012 – a completely non-event in terms of meaningful times of year for me. When I decided to embark upon a plant-based diet, it was in April 2018 – I woke up one morning and, almost randomly, decided on the spur of the moment that that was what I was going to do. I persevered with all of the above, yet I cannot ever remember a New Year’s resolution that I actually saw right through to the end. 

So, as I said at the beginning of this blog, I had no idea what I was going to write. There was no purpose to it other than to enjoy the exhilaration of a brand new page upon which to write. I just love a blank sheet. Whether or not you view the New Year in the same light is up to each individual. 

I’d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I would also like to extend that to beyond the New Year and into the whole of 2022. But why stop there?

Happy 2022 to everyone… and BEYOND. Enjoy your life for as long as you can.

Please feel free to visit my website http://www.markdpritchard.com