I have always loved New Year’s Eve! Not for the parties nor the celebrations, but for the fresh start – the turning of the page. It’s a time when we have the opportunity to start over with those goals that the passing year saw us fall just short of. We have a new year during which it seems all things are possible – and indeed they are.
It is also a night upon which we can look back and reflect upon those loved ones we lost, both this year and in years gone by, who, though gone from our lives, remain forever in our memories – and forever in our hearts.
It is a fresh start, regardless of what may have happened before. We start anew. We make our New Year’s resolutions, which are wonderful symbols of the enduring hope that exists in the hearts of us all. We know if and why we fell short last year, and though we know nothing’s really going to be different after the clock strikes midnight, we believe in possibility.
I have goals for 2022 – some personal and some professional. I have strategies for my individual goals and a timeline for each, spaced out over the course of the year.
The first five months will be focused on perhaps the most important commitment I’ve made, a promise to my students to prepare them to lead a world that doesn’t deserve them, but desperately needs them.
Health and fitness will take a spotlight this year, as I’ve slipped over the past few years. This slip was not a failure, it was part of the previous plan. I had to make room to learn the skills I needed in order to become a worthy teacher. One of the most important lessons to learn about life is that you have to prioritize – and you have to pick your battles. You cannot achieve excellence in all things at all times.
My final major goal will be to continue building the Lethal Focus brand. I have a lot of plans but my daddy always taught me one step at a time.
Looking back on it, 2021 was a monumental year for me. I had successes, both personal and professional. I had some failures too. All in all, I leave this year content with where I am – content and energized.
As for the state of the world, it’s a swirling storm of chaos. It’s not so much the events of the world itself – for they have always been chaotic. It is, rather, in the way we react to the events of the world. People have become angry, cold, opinionated, and tribal.
People have stopped talking to each other. The first sign of a difference in opinion triggers an immediate shutdown in diplomacy. We look at the other side of the discussion as – not simply different – but alien. Compromise is a word that has gone A.W.O.L.
Compromise is how humans have made it to this point in history and it is the only way we will have a future. Our species doesn’t live in a vacuum. We are connected to everything that happens on the planet. We must learn to work together, even if our goals and beliefs are different.
More than anything, let’s just be kind to one another. It doesn’t take much effort. And it can make a huge difference. In the words of Auld Lang Syne, that haunting song that will be on the lips of billions tonight, let’s “take a cup of kindness yet, for days gone by.”
Happy New Year!
Lethal Focus 