Hopeful Start

It is seldom that I feel thankful for the things that I am enjoying in my ordinary life; things like friendship and freedom and even just plain living. More often than not, I tend to focus on the hardships that I undergo, that in the process I lose sight of the blessings and the happy things that happened to me over the years. But if there’s one thing that reminds me of these good things, it is the start of a new year.

The beginning of a new year never fails to impress on me that very precious thing– hope. Whatever bad thing or habit I picked up during the course of the previous year, I am always glad that this flow, this eternal march of time and events, is punctuated by year ends and new years. Every start of the year, I am reminded that I am starting another year free of last year’s disappointments and heartaches, that I can start afresh with hopes of not repeating the mistakes I made the previous years, of building on the goodwill that I’ve created, and of creating new memories that would accompany me in my own life’s journey.

The new year also allows me to waxe philosophical on my life so far, and what I can accomplish in the coming months. What people would call their new year’s resolutions, I call my new year’s determinations. I am human and I will probably fail to live up to most of the things that I intend to do this year, but i am still hopeful that there will be those that I will be able to achieve. And if only for this hope, I am looking forward to the rest of the year.

One very good writer once said that the only poor people are those who are bereft of hope. I wish we could all muster enough courage to still hope even when things around us seem to fall apart as we go on with our individual lives.

A hopeful new year to everyone.