As the new year begins, we each have an exciting opportunity to rewrite the course and direction of our lives. 2021 was a year punctuated by a pandemic changing our day to day lives, bringing unparalleled isolation for many, unprecedented fires and floods, and the invasion of our capital which was symptomatic of heightened political and personal unrest. No matter what your personal goals, hopes, or resolutions may be, 2022 is an opportunity to recall all of your good experiences of 2021 and to celebrate the year ahead. We should choose happiness and optimism as life is about choices… The following thoughts may help:
“2022 is all about 2nd chances
(with all the 2’s in the year).
Life is short. Be happy,
by making others happy and staying
closest to those that make you happy.”
—Joseph Goralka (my wiser brother)
“Celebrate endings- for they precede
new beginnings.”
—Jonathan Lockwood Huie
“Cheers to a new year and another chance
for us to get things right.”
—Oprah Winfrey
“Tomorrow is the first blank page to a
365-page book... write a good one.”
—Brad Paisley
“Your present circumstances don’t
determine where you can go – they merely determine where you start.”
—Nido Qubein
“Every single year we are a different person,
I don’t think we are the same person
all of our lives.”
—Steven Spielberg
“What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year.”
—Vesa McLellan
“The New Year is a painting not yet painted; a path not yet stepped on; a wing not yet taken off! Things haven’t happened as yet! Before the clock strikes twelve, remember that you are blessed with the ability to reshape your life!”
—Mehmet Murat İldan
“Be at war with your vices,
at peace with your neighbors and
let every new year find you a better man.”
—Benjamin Franklin
“I like the dreams of the future
better than the history of the past.”
—Thomas Jefferson
“Your success and happiness lie in your resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invisible host against difficulties.”
—Helen Keller
(with all the 2’s in the year).
Life is short. Be happy,
by making others happy and staying
closest to those that make you happy.”
—Joseph Goralka (my wiser brother)
“Celebrate endings- for they precede
new beginnings.”
—Jonathan Lockwood Huie
“Cheers to a new year and another chance
for us to get things right.”
—Oprah Winfrey
“Tomorrow is the first blank page to a
365-page book... write a good one.”
—Brad Paisley
“Your present circumstances don’t
determine where you can go – they merely determine where you start.”
—Nido Qubein
“Every single year we are a different person,
I don’t think we are the same person
all of our lives.”
—Steven Spielberg
“What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year.”
—Vesa McLellan
“The New Year is a painting not yet painted; a path not yet stepped on; a wing not yet taken off! Things haven’t happened as yet! Before the clock strikes twelve, remember that you are blessed with the ability to reshape your life!”
—Mehmet Murat İldan
“Be at war with your vices,
at peace with your neighbors and
let every new year find you a better man.”
—Benjamin Franklin
“I like the dreams of the future
better than the history of the past.”
—Thomas Jefferson
“Your success and happiness lie in your resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invisible host against difficulties.”
—Helen Keller
I suffered losses and challenges in years past. Those losses wore me down and brought a feeling of hopelessness. With the help of family and a few very close friends, 2021 was a year of recovery and rebirth for me despite the many difficulties that we all endured. Hellen Keller’s quote is particularly meaningful for me. Helen Keller was an author, disability rights advocate, political activist, and lecturer. She lost her sight and hearing at the age of 19 months. She was born in 1880 and did not have the benefit of the many technological advances available today. If she can succeed, why can’t each of us? Happiness is a choice that we make each day.
Cheers to 2022!
