Dear New Year

Dear New Year New Me People,

Say goodbye to yesterday, and goodbye to tomorrow. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow isn't promised. Forget about making goals that you won't keep for a week. Live for today, as if every breath could be your last. Live, Love, Laugh.

This past year has been hard for all of us. The year 2020 brought with it a wave of pain and death. For me, it is a deep and personal loss, as I mourn the death of my mom. She battled cancer for a long time. She fought hard, and lived her dreams. She had everyone believing she was going to make it. Two days before her passing, the doctor said to me, "she only has a couple weeks left." I took those days as if they were a guarantee. I never thought that in just forty-eight hours, I'd be saying goodbye.

That was it though. Her time was up. Nothing goes with you when you die. Death doesn't care if you lost thirty pounds, or got out of debt, or learned how to swim. When it's time to go, there is no "wait, I didn't do blah, blah, blah" whatever goal it is that you've set for yourself.

This past year, many of us got stuck in quarantine. I was one of those folks. Yeah sure, it was great. I got to sit on my bed, and get paid to do nothing. Yet literally, all I did was nothing. I had a blasted headache for six days. Couldn't taste anything. Caring for my child. (Also sick.) Thank God we survived. I mean at least the majority of you all had television, or internet. We didn't have TV in our house, and my phone went out of service three days after I got sick. At least now I see why people were hoarding toilet paper. Fourteen days in a house, with no contact with people. What if we had ran out. We would have had to use WASHCLOTHS. Can you imagine, the horror. You are already stuck in the house, and now you got to go back to the eighteen hundreds and use cloths to wipe yourself. Eak.. Thank goodness that didn't happen. You never know how much you enjoy being alone though. Until you are forced to sit at home, and not socialize. The possibilities are endless. You could read a book, or take an hour long bath. You could get out your binoculars and spy on the neighbors. (I did not do this, I swear.) I took that time to study budgeting. Bought a couple Dave Ramsey books and read them both. Whatever you want to do, you can do it. Time is endless. You have nothing but time. (Or you could die.) My point is, tomorrow isn't promised. You could be stuck inside a house for fourteen days, or you could die on day six. You don't know your day of death. So live. Even in quarantine, you can still live.

This past year, many of you have lost your jobs. (Covid's fault!) I am one of those. I worked there for almost three years. It was steady income (though not really enough to live off of). Now I have a new job. One where I get to dictate whether I want to work or not. I set my own schedule. Choose which jobs I want to do, wherever I want to do them. (In whatever state I want to check out, too.) I truly get to live my life as if it were my last. I get to go on that adventure. If I worked hard that one day, I can treat myself to that latte. Or, if I didn't quite make enough, I may need to skip lunch. It's okay. I probably didn't need that hamburger anyway. My point is, though. Just because you lost your job (or quit your job), it doesn't have to be a bad thing. Maybe this is your chance to do something new. Take that chance. Quit that job you hate. Don't wait.

Therefore in this year to come, don't squander your time. Live your life today. Go on that adventure. Read that book. Hit that snooze button again. Take that picture. Drink that latte. Skip that meal. Make that baby. Marry that woman that you can't stop thinking about. (Or at least ask her out.) Whatever it is that you want to do, or feel like you NEED to do. Do it. Do it today. Don't wait until tomorrow, because it may not come.

That's my goal this year, and I hope you all enjoy my story.