Something special happens around three key moments in a person’s life: their birthday, the death of a loved one and the dawn of a new year.
These three events give people a serious moment of reflection – a moment to take stock of their lives and determine what their future will look like.
Today is the last day of the year and what a year it’s been. However, as we close the curtains on 2018, I don’t want to focus on the year that was, but rather, focus on the year ahead of us.
Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. You are the author and you will have to decide what type of book you will write. It’s up to you. No one else but you.
The dreams and secret petitions of your heart that went unfulfilled in 2018 will carry over into 2019. So, what are you going to do?
Many of you wanted to finally buy your first house. It didn’t happen. Some of you wanted to start your own business, but got scared. You may have wanted to walk away from your relationship, but the fear of being alone made you unpack your suitcases and settle.
Guess what? If you don’t buy that house this year, you’ll continue renting. If you don’t start your business, you’ll always wonder what could have been and if you don’t end the relationship, you will trade happiness and true love for a life of regret and unhappiness.
The year may be gone, but it’s not too late to start make changes.
A very good friend of mine has a habit of saying ‘you’re not past anything until you’re dead.’ He’s right.
The truth is, not everything can be accomplished in a year. All of your goals may not even be accomplished this year. But, you have to get started.
I have three vision boards in my house, four if you count the one on my fridge. Plus, I have a habit of writing to-do lists in every notebook I own. It gives me a great sense of satisfaction to tick things off my list that I have accomplished. I look back on those boards and smile. I sometimes can’t believe that I have done everything I said I would do.
In November, I started writing a list of things I wanted to accomplish in 2019 – countries I wanted to visit, personal and professional changes I wanted to make. Some were big and others small. But, I felt like I got a head start and I plan on making them happen.
In 2019, Pack Light, Land Safely
There’s a reason why airlines have a strict baggage policy and weigh luggage. Lots of heavy baggage could prevent an airplane from taking off safely. Even if it does, the pilot may not be able to maintain the flight if there’s engine failure. That plane could crash.
Humans are the same. Some of us carry a lot of baggage and we’re able to do so for a while. But, when we run into trouble that extra baggage weighs us down and could have dire consequences on our lives.
The new year is an opportunity to pack light and leave the people who don’t mean you well behind so that you can take off and land safely.
Many of us have had people in our lives masquerading as if they meant us well. But, their charming smiles were quickly replaced with scowls the minute we said we couldn’t do something for them. We had their back even though they didn’t have ours. We encouraged them, told them they could get that job, start a family, make more money, move into their house and when we were down and needed to be encouraged, they were nowhere to be found.
You have to wake up. You cannot continue pouring into someone else’s life and not have them reciprocate. Doing so leaves you incredibly empty. You cannot continue to be there financially for someone and when your pockets are light, they take flight.
I recently watched a six-minute video of a motivational speaker who addressed the need to cut people off who don’t mean us well. Even more poignant, he urged viewers not to regret the decision.
“Don’t be afraid to cut someone off who handed you the scissors,” he said.
If that person in your life does not mean you well, is always undermining you and not fully appreciating all that you’ve done for them, let them go. If they get mad, let them be mad. Do not allow yourself to be controlled by it. Who wants to be loved and appreciated solely because of what they can provide? That’s not love. That’s manipulation. Your life will get exponentially better when you cut off the person who handed you the scissors and they will move on to the next sucker. But, you would have successfully lightened your load.
I don’t feel the need to give a play-by-play of what it takes to turn things around in the new year because (a) I’m not qualified to do that and (b) I believe that if you really want something, you’ll figure out a way to get it. And if you don’t figure out a way to get it, you must not have really wanted it.
What I do know, though, is that we’re all starting off with the same blank page. How we fill those 365 pages is up to us. We have the power to make it an interesting, must-read, and more importantly, a bestseller.
What I’m here to tell you is that the things you want can be accomplished with God, the right attitude, discipline and a whole lot of planning.
One of the saddest feelings you will experience is to be sitting alone with your thoughts on December 31, 2019, hours away from the new year, having accomplished nothing.
So, go write your book. The clock is ticking.
Happy New Year!
Damn! This hit me hard. You are so right. I see how I have been procrastinating about a lot of things. A whole year went by and nothing in my life changed. I have to change.
You are a really good writer Rogan. Keep up the work. You must have written this for me. Damn.
Hello Miss Rogan. This was a scary read. Scary because it is so true. It woke me up. The year flies by so fast. That part about cutting ppl off who handed u the scissors is real. So real. We need more of this type of writing.