Happy New Year! Or is it?
Let’s talk about that.
by Kyle Livingston
A lot of people start the New Year with incredibly loud shouting, drinking, and kissing. At least that’s what it looks like from this 16 year old’s point of view. This year let’s sit down and … simplify our celebration a bit.
On New Year’s Eve I watched the ball drop, wished everyone a happy new year, and headed downstairs. Unlike a lot of my friends at this age who were out at parties, I stayed home and instead of celebrating I started reflecting. I live by the idea that if you can understand yourself you can understand the world. Once you know who you are, you are perfectly capable of understanding everything else out there.
Though to do that, to understand everything out in the world, we need to complete the first step. A new year means a whole new slate, new opportunities, new ideas, new trips, etc. But what if we use it as a replay button? 2015 must have held some things that we all enjoyed so why should we get rid of them and leave it in the past? I reviewed my past year and decided that I didn’t want to just forget certain things in 2015, I wanted to bring it into 2016 and use it to make my life better, more entertaining, and yes, of course, simplified.
I won’t turn this into a soap opera of my life in 2015 but what I will do is encourage all of you to sit down, by yourself or with your partner… even your pets if you want and just reflect on your 2015 year. Look at all that was good and even bad and use that to make 2016 the best year you could ever have! For instance, if you asked someone out last year and they said yes, remember how that made you feel, remember how much courage you had doing that and use it in this new year.
My views on how life works and how people work are limited. I’ve only been in this world for sixteen years. I don’t see things in the way most adults do, but I do see them in a way some adults can’t. Here’s to a brand new year, filled with old opportunities with a new perspective.
Editors note:
I’m delighted to introduce a guest contributor to Life Simplified, my son Kyle Livingston. A writer since he could form the letters, Kyle shares with us the New Year, from a new perspective.
What do you want to carry into 2016 from 2015? What would you leave behind? Kyle & I would love to know. Please leave your comments below.
