I was standing on a field in a friends farm on the last evening of the year. It’s a clear starry night allowing me to see the billions of stars before a thin cloud covers it all a few minutes later.
What a year!
This year was a very positive and constructive year for many reasons.
I felt that I was able to do achieve a lot of things that I wanted to achieve, sort out things, tie up loose ends, create new opportunities, meet new people, discover more about myself and the world. It wasn’t an easy year though.
A few days ago, I was chatting to an artist in his gallery about some of these topics and rekindling the feeling of adventure for the start of the new year.
He related how that morning he got up early, got onto his motorbike and went to see the sunrise over the ocean. It was beautiful. A sight for his paintings. And he said, “I could have easily not done that.” It would’ve been easier to have done nothing.
And it’s true. All the things I (you, we) did this year – the things over and beyond the routine stuff – we could’ve easily not done them either.
It does take effort. Hopefully the reward will be worth the effort. It isn’t always immediate, nor guaranteed.
But we did it anyway! As I looked at the stars, and feeling almost giddy by the scale of the universe, I felt compelled to recognize how remarkable it was that you, I and our friends have done the many positive things we did do this year. The adventure demands effort. The sunrise won’t wait.