I’ve always been an enthusiastic proponent of the particular brand of magical thinking that surrounds new beginnings. A birthday, an anniversary, the first day of a new month (🐇🐇) — I’ll take any opportunity to celebrate a fresh start. This sort of mentality has certain downsides: a graveyard of half-filled notebooks; partially completed checklists where a project got into the sticky middle part of the actual doing, and something new and shiny was too tempting. But the cleanest slate of all is a whole new year, and right here on the cusp of 1 Jan, it’s easy to brush concerns aside, and think on the promise and potential of 2024.
The last couple of months of 2023 were uncommonly full. I posted a bunch here leading up to my first trip to Japan, which was wonderful, but demanding in terms of energy and focus. And since our plane touched back down in the UK 38 days ago, my special lady friend and I have been busy. We travelled back-and-forth across counties for a milestone family birthday, I started a new job with a new employer, we completed the purchase of our first home, we moved into that home, and then we celebrated Christmas (surrounded by boxes and bubble wrap)! For the latter half of 2023, those landmarks — Japan; new job; house move — loomed so large on the horizon that I couldn’t see much beyond them. All of which has meant that I haven’t done a lot of thinking about potential resolutions, beyond the most prosaic: eat better, read more, scroll less, restart a practice of daily meditation.
I do have some other plans percolating, but I’ll refrain from saying any more until the time is right. For now, I just wanted to stop in and wish you the best for 2024. As the prayer goes, may all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering 🎉
