A Brand New Day in a Brand New Year

I like January 1. I have never really liked New Year’s Eve but I have always liked January 1. New Year’s Eve is all about endings and moving on, something which has never been easy for me. It is about doors closing. But January 1 is about doors opening, a brand new day in a brand new year.

I closed a big door in 2008 and it was long before the ball dropped in Times Square last night. It was that day I walked out of my downtown corporate office for the last time. It took some months before the door closed completely and I grew certain that I did not want to open any more corporate office doors unless they are the ones which house those who want to publish my writing.

I am like that in most things in life. I never leave anything easily. I like to be 100% sure I am ready to let go. The other thing that happens to me is that once I let go, I rarely look back.

It's much easier to let go of a year and shut the door. Especially the one entitled 2008. It has been a roller coaster ride for everyone filled with an economic downturn, tales of greed and corruption and a presidential election we watched like a sporting event. It has been a year of change, some unwanted and some necessary. I am not alone in being happy to shut the door on 2008.

I am also not in my usual quandary about closing this chapter. I am not nostalgic to hold on to this past year. I see no benefit in looking back and wallowing in a downsized financial portfolio and fear the uncertainty of what is ahead.

I am in the camp that what is ahead is what we all choose to create. So that is the door I am opening to 2009. The one that holds hope and excitement for what is next. The one filled with those who can find gratitude for what they received in 2008 amidst all the chaos, who believe that this crazy state the world is in is a necessary correction in how we live and that on the other end is a much brighter and better tomorrow.

So today, I open the door on this brand new year with enthusiasm for what’s next. As I sip my coffee and listen to the winds howling past my window I am writing down my list of what I want 2009 to look like, a list that includes a wish for you for a Happy New Year filled with love, prosperity, health and lots of hope !