With the new year upon us, marking another trip around the sun, collectively and symbolically we give ourselves permission to make a fresh start; renewed promises, redefined goals, refreshed perspectives. Somehow seeing the January 1st date, like a blank page, gives us a boost, the momentum we somehow lack the rest of the year.

We can use any day to change our life, change our relationship, change our job, change our habits, change our perceptions. The only difference between talking about doing something and actually doing something is as easy and as hard as just doing it (Nike knew what they were talking about). Every day is a new day, a new month, a new year, a new opportunity. Life is linear; there is no going back to the beginning – we are in constant transition.

My father hates his job and even though he’s 68 he can’t afford to retire (challenges associated with having young children at an older age). He is desperately seeking a new job and lifestyle. My sister wants to alter her geography to be closer to the family. Everyone wants to get healthier. Particularly in an era where our social circles tend to over-share, we’re tempted into a constant re-evaluation of our lives. Are we doing enough? Accomplishing enough? Seeing enough? Having enough fun? Are we happy enough? Maybe it’s just a reminder the clock is ticking loudly … it’s time to get busy living because we can’t help the fact that we’re all actively dying. NO PRESSURE. Tick, tock, tick, tock. 

Before I went to college I spent a day with a cousin I saw rarely because he lived six hours away. I’ll never forget what he told me on that day: “your life drastically changes every six months. Just look back and see how different it was six months ago.” Initially, I dismissed this notion, but every so often I think back six months and note the difference and his comment feels incredibly poignant; even more so since he died unexpectedly two years ago at 45 years young.

I’m no different, I coincided the end of this 365-project with the last day of the year and there will be a huge hole each day after where my project used to reside. I will not stop writing, but I will stop writing in this (lonely) club and begin a new kind of writing. I look forward to embracing the new; bigger projects, looser constraints, armed with the evidence to forever remind me of what I’m capable. (WRITING EVERY SINGLE DAY!)