Expecting the New Year

Once again, it’s the perfect moment to become aware of the direction we have chosen to take in our lives and the mindset required to start a new yearly challenge. Just like every year transition, most of us will reflect on the life we have lived in the ending year and on what we desire in the upcoming year.

The beginning of a new year almost inevitably leads us to contemplate our lives, both individually and collectively, to look back introspectively and forward into the future.

The most beautiful thing we can do is imagine that future, paint it with the colors of our dreams and hopes, and believe that with time, everything will improve in every aspect. However, no matter how much we direct these desires towards the future, it is colored by what we have already experienced, acquired experiences, rare and bright moments of happiness, and many moments of fear and anxiety.

How can we dream of a better, more positive year when we are constantly exposed to numerous news that overwhelms us in sadness, despair or, worse, in indifference so that we wouldn’t suffer?

The news overwhelms us like an avalanche, skillfully concealed by intelligent individuals or those with an interest in hiding the truth, and in some cases the mask is no longer used, instead reality is presented in all its cruelty. There is an open wound everywhere in the world, entire societies are collapsing due to poverty or excessive wealth, and individuals feel powerless to stop this development and even more powerless to eliminate it.

It seems that our time is marked by difficulties. Everything is slowed down, difficult, and unattainable. And this applies to individuals as well as small and large groups of people. What to do?

We are used to seeing the future as constant progress, without problems or at least with fewer of them, because supposedly all the solutions are already given to us. Perhaps this vision of our own development has sterilized us, taken away our energy and creativity. Perhaps with so many possibilities, we have also lost The diminishing moral strength that characterizes – or should characterize – a person… There are many of those perhaps… It is certain that brilliant predictions have not been fulfilled and overall we all feel confused by the difficulties we face and the limited ability to solve them.

However, man is still the master of his will, his thoughts, his feelings, his actions. It is enough to open our eyes, take what we have in front of us, and use our natural abilities again. I don’t mean that we should try to regain false optimism, but we need to regain our inner strength to face difficulties, to think rationally, to act kindly, to express our will daily, and to empower these forgotten, yet so necessary elements for life so that we can know what we have experienced and so that we can continue to plan our lives for tomorrow.

It is time to accept difficulties as something inseparable from existence. It is time to become strong again, dignified. Being positive and happy, even when we find ourselves in the midst of problems, is the best way to overcome them. Instead of expecting gifts from the new year, we should use the true gifts that turn us into active participants in our shared and individual destinies.