New Year's Day Blues

This post was co-published at talanhorne.com.

It's been well documented that New Year's Day falls exactly one week after Christmas. It sets up quite the anticlimax, as the latter holiday lives forever in the shadow of the former.

It also complicates things when Christmas falls on a Monday, and I dedicate a special post to it, because then I feel obligated to create a big and special New Year's post.

Which is unfortunate, because I don't have a lot to say about New Year's Day.

Kind of Falls Apart, When You Think about It

The whole idea behind New Year's traditions is that they are celebrations of coming change, with the idea that everyone is being given a second chance to make a great year. It's all about self improvement.

But the thing about self improvement is that you can do it at any time. You don't have to wait until the New Year, and in most cases, you probably shouldn't wait. If you've got an issue that needs working on, you're better off working on it right now, on whatever day of the year you happen to be at.

That people choose this one arbitrary date to begin reengineering their lives is counterproductive.

I've Already Got my Resolution

As for what I plan to do with my upcoming year, the answer is already known to anyone who follows me: I plan to sell a book. But I've already been embroiled in that effort for a while. I didn't wait for New Year's Eve to begin this process.

So the New Year's celebration is a bit less important to me. It may be important to you, and I don't want to knock your traditions. It's not wrong to change your life on January 1st, as long as you aren't restricting yourself to only making changes on that date.

In any case, I don't have much to report for New Year's Day. I'm going to keep working towards the same goals I've had for most of the last year.

I do, however, expect a lot of good things to happen in 2018. I am determined to sell a book in that time, and I am prepared to take steps to make that happen. But it occurs to me that other parts of my life will likely improve during that time---sometimes without any effort on my part. Technology is changing the world in rapid ways. And as I participate in those technologies, I have become part of that change.

Just as a few possibilities that 2018 holds:

• Crypto is probably going to get bigger than ever.
• Netflix is going to go new places and give me all sorts of new content to review.
• I'll probably make at least a few new friends.
• I'll likely travel to a few places I've never been before.
• Someone is going to realize that the book I'm offering is what they've been waiting for.

On the whole, I could not be more optimistic about what the future holds, and in that spirit I can genuinely say:

Happy New Year!

 

You are all awesome for sticking with me this long. I'm going to show you all what I'm made of, and things are going to be better than ever.

Thank you for being one of my readers. I hope you'll stay with me until the dream comes true.

Until then, I wish you all the happiness you can possibly get without breaking the law.