UNITED STATES—I don’t know what it is about this upcoming New Year that has delivered a ton of hope and positivity to my orbit. With most New Year’s, they seem to come and go for me, however, I feel quite different about 2024. There is a level of hope and positivity that I just have for the year that I cannot describe with my words.
Perhaps it is the fact that I have a monumental birthday in 2024. Perhaps I am edging closer to the completion of my Doctoral Degree, the fact that I’m building close bonds with the people in my family or that I am just planning to do something I’ve never done before; focus on the good in life and forget all the bad. I will admit 2023 was a really tough year for me. Health-wise I dealt with challenges I never expected in life. I never used to be scared to go to the doctor, but 2023 tested me in the scariest ways.
It actually helped me take my health more serious than in previous years and changes were made. I’m still not where I want to be fully, but I feel like I am moving in the right direction to get where I want to be. However, it all begins with a bit of implementation, once you start something you can easily progress. For example, I have given up soda completely. I haven’t had an ounce in more than a year, to be exact, 14 months and 3 days as this column is being written.
For 2024, it is not just about health, it is about aspirations. I want to live this next year with absolutely no regrets and placing myself in the most positive light as I can possibly be. I’m not going to allow any sort of bad aura to impact me like I have allowed in the past. If someone is having a bad day, they will just have a bad day; I will not allow that to impact my day. I plan to wake up each morning being blessed to be alive and appreciative to the things I have no matter how little or massive I have.
I want to travel more; I want to be present and enjoy life. I plan to be off my mobile devices more and be more present with the world and the people around me. Life is fleeting; limit the time you spend not enjoying life and the things surrounding you. I want to be more in touch with my life and not just living it from day-to-day I want to feel like there is more purpose and direction for accomplishments to occur.
Whether it is with my career, my family, finances, love, I just have a focus for the upcoming New Year that I have not had in previous years. I don’t know if I feel an uncertain level of urgency in life or I want to take life by the horns and the wheel and drive in the direction I want to go versus being forced to drive in a particular direction. Plenty of time we just tell ourselves the things that happen in life are supposed to happen versus making choices that best behooves us. Yes, things are going to transpire that you don’t expect or wish to transpire. You take the hand that you are dealt with and play the cards to the best of your ability and then make adjustments with the resources available to you.
I cannot put into words what I feel about 2024, but I feel like it is going to be my year and all the things I have ever wanted, wished, prayed and asked for are going to come to me in abundance in addition to so much more. Why 2024 compared to any other year? I think because I want it to transpire so much more than ever before. Why now, I wish I could tell you.
