By Anu Dev
Well 2013 is finally coming to an end. The year is wrapping up and we’re being propelled towards January 1st, 2014. Our thoughts inevitably become a bit reflective as we think about what the past year has been like. We can’t do much about the process, since as humans we’re driven to create narratives.
The point is: what kind of narrative are we going to create? For me, the past year’s been one of my most momentous – graduating from high school, moving to a different country and starting med school all within the space of a few months. It feels like it’s been years since I was last strolling through the halls of QC – so much has happened since then. But then I realise it was just a few months ago that I was wearing the old school tie.
Time, as I’m constantly reminded, is truly relative.
But I do love New Year’s Day. For some in explicable reason I get insanely happy when thinking about New Year’s Day.
For example, after my last exam, the minute I realised that I was now free from school- work and the holidays had officially begun, I immediately started wishing everyone Happy New Year’s – never mind that we hadn’t even gotten past Christmas yet.
It’s hard to be unhappy on New Year’s Day. For our family, it’s a “big day” as we celebrate New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day all rolled together. There’s (tons of) good food, lots of laughter from good-natured ribbing and just that all-round ‘good feeling’. Cooking with my mom is special! And after being away for four months, I’m looking forward to that familiar feeling of ushering in the New Year with my family even more than I usually do.
It’s true you shouldn’t wait until a specific date like January 1 to decide to make changes in your life.
What’s that cliché? “Today is the first day of the rest of your life…” So you should be continuously striving to improve things. But New Year’s Day is a nice time to make a conscious effort to think about what you want the New Year to be like.
We all have things that we would’ve liked to have done differently in 2013 and we all have goals and expectations of the way we want our lives to turn out.
But the thing is, if we’re not making the decisions to improve our lives, to bring ourselves closer to our goals, thing won’t magically work out in the end without us putting any effort in. Unfortunately, real life doesn’t equip us with personal Fairy Godmothers.
Every alcoholic mightn’t decide to give up drinking, every smoker mightn’t decide to quit smoking and every parent mightn’t decide to make more of an effort to spend time with their kids, but hopefully many will. It doesn’t have to be “big things”… But the “little things” we change can also make a world of difference.
I love fresh starts, new beginnings. And for many of us, especially students, we do get a fresh start after the New Year – it’s a whole new term, a new semester.
We get a chance to improve this semester in comparison to the last.
It’s going to be a New Year! I don’t know what exactly 2014 holds for me, but I do know some of the things that I want from 2014, and hopefully I can make the choices to bring me closer to my goals. And in the meantime, I’ll enjoy what’s left of 2013 and savour the time I get to spend at home, right here in my homeland.