New Year. What do YOU want?

If you are reading this good job. You made it into 2022 with me.

As many of you know, American icon Betty White died the day of New Years Eve. I watched her on The Golden Girls when I was much younger. She was 99. What a good, long run she had and it seemed as if she lived her life well.

New Year’s Day I went on a quick, in & out hike up Museum Trail behind the Palm Springs Art Museum. Clouds strewn across the sky creating a bit of drama. I welcomed the texture.

As with a lot of my previous hikes, a question that has haunted me for months resurfaced: What do you want, Richard?

This meant, what do I want to do with the rest of my life? How do I want it to look? What do I want to be doing? Who do I want to be around me? Where do I want to be?

It is a lot to ponder and this has been a process of getting to know myself better.

Something else that came up, a dreadful thought: I do not want to end up like my father.

I grew up with my mother and didn’t know my father well but from what I gather from my own memories he didn’t have close friends visiting him in the hospital when he was dealing with diabetic complications. I didn’t know him to have many friends at all or many that he’d spoke of. In the end, I knew he was afraid to die and I think it’s because he left this world unfulfilled living a lusterless life.

This is the wrong way of thinking, about things that I don’t want. I even told myself that during my hike. The solution? Envision and create what I do want.

It will take action and effort to get down to the gritty, figuring some of this out. I have to be mindful of getting too comfortable being in solitude otherwise I will end up like my father.

I share this with you because maybe you share the same sentiment on your life path and need to get clearer on what you want. This can be addressed many times over the course of your life, no need to wait for the New Year to give yourself permission to re-direct your life.

Remember, there’s no such thing as shortcuts when it comes to making life changes. Do it little by little so that you have small successes and build upon that.

If you want some recommended reading to help dismantle bad habits and create new ones, Atomic Habits by James Clear is excellent (I read it twice back-to-back).

I may be due to read it again…

Be well and happy new year to you all.

Richard