Make your own path
A slightly (perhaps overly) preachy post for the start of 2022
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Happy New Year. And thank you for being part of J ROBERT CLARK - Makes. ~JRC
Unless you've been living under a rock amidst the desert sands of Slowjamistan (yes, it's a real although absurd place), you've witnessed the turning of a new year. 2022 is here. And as we flip the calendar to January, it's natural to ponder what has been - and what is yet to come.
Some of these reflections are illuminating this time of year, and a few predictions are even enlightening. But more often than not, they all sound familiar. Particularly in rough times like now, many of us sing the same refrain:
"Good riddance to the last, and may the next be better."
Yes, as I said, familiar. And not just because a lot of us are saying it now. It's because we were saying this same thing 365 days ago. And if COVID-19 and all the other related woes keep up (prediction: they will), we'll be repeating it in another year's worth of days.
We keep hoping for a better year, year after year, as we wish our lives away.
Granted, our collective discontent is justified. 2021 was a rough one. The pandemic raged; ever-present, ever-changing, and ever in our way. And almost as bad, tribalistic politics increased - in America and worldwide. It seems that even if we could have gotten together safely, many old groups splintered so severely that gathering would have been futile.
Disease, both of the body and mind, plagues humanity.
It's like one of these dystopian films I used to watch. I say "used to watch" because I can't enjoy them now; they seem too real, too much like, well, now. And now kind of sucks.
Maybe we should wish our lives away.
Okay. Full stop. I don't believe that.
A dear friend once told me, "John, you're not a pessimist. You're an optimist with a melancholy streak."
As overwhelmed with the state of the world as I am, I haven't given up.
And neither should you.
Why remain optimistic? I'm not good at giving advice, so I won't try. But I will share a couple of quotes and a few goals I have in the new year that keep me going.
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