Nothing says the new year like a pyrotechnic display

The last ball has dropped. Champagne has been drunk, party hats thrown out and the confetti all swept away after revelers the world over toasted to the fourteenth year of the 21st century. 2014.

Suddenly, the whirlwind of the holiday season has come to an abrupt end. It feels like the carpet has been swept out from beneath our feet and we’re left breathless and trying to regain our balance all at the same time. There’s no more pressure to buy, bake, eat, wrap, unwrap, mingle and make merry. Come the second of January, it’s life as we always knew it.

But it’s not. It’s a new year. 

Each new year heralds the spark of anticipation of things to come. Resolutions made still unbroken. A full year of 365 days ahead of us in which anything can happen in our lives: the good, the unfortunate, the surprises and everything else in between. 

I woke this January 1st with sore feet, unable to shake the feeling that I’d been given a “do over” with this new year. So many times I’ve wished that I could just go back and start all over again. I’d do it all differently. Maybe I’d be born a math or science whiz. If I was still inclined to follow the arts, I’d get a different college degree. If I’d done it differently, maybe I’d be in a better place now – whatever that might look like.

It’s not always easy to distance myself from these thoughts and instead accept me in this life as it is now. When I do find the perspective and peace to let this all go, some voice somewhere tells me that one day soon I’ll realize to do differently would be foolish. 

The new year is a blank slate; a chance to try again. It’s a do over. No, not to start at the beginning of life, but to start now – wherever that now in your life is. Imagine the possibilities and the unknown that lies ahead…