OMG! It’s December Already
Where did the year go? I feel like Rip van Winkle-Have I slept my life away?
Time flashes by like a blur, so fast we are barely aware of its passage. It’s already December, and 2023 is getting ready to be rung out while we just feel wrung out. It’s like this every year, but we can never catch up to ourselves, can we?
We may feel like we are stuck in the muck and mire of everyday activities, of plans and propositions, of goals achieved or given up on, or be all giddy with hopeful ideas we are still mulling over.
It’s the same for everybody, every year, and now the sands of time are running out on another year already.
We measure the progress of our lives through the growth of our children, the development or stagnation of our relationships with our significant others, and the passage of those nearest and dearest to us.
We celebrate all the special precious traditional holidays with each other throughout the year.
We go to parties and dance the night away, we go to dinners and celebrate special occasions like weddings, we go to concerts and rock out to our favorite bands with our friends.
We never seem to notice each day because it seems to be crawling along at a snail’s pace.
But simultaneously, it feels like everything is happening in a blur of motion and madness, of frantic activity and last-minute decisions, of choices made and chances missed.
In the popular saying, we can’t see the forest for the trees.
Many of us have given up on watching the news because it features only the bad things that are happening in the world.
But 2023 had a lot of good things happen too, despite all the bad news like all the divisive politics and wars going on that we never hear about.
Environmentalists are making substantial gains.
- There are a lot more electric cars on the road than in 2022. They are going mainstream, with 7.8 million EVs worldwide, a 68% increase.
A $4,000 federal tax credit for a used car is available, and for 90% of Americans an EV is cheaper than the traditional internal combustion engine
2. Coal is dying out and being replaced by renewable energy, especially in China, one of the world’s biggest polluters. Meantime the production of solar panels is on the upswing. The momentum is changing faster than anybody would have guessed.
3. The ozone layer is also healing faster than expected as a result of a 1987 treaty, according to a UN report.
4. Bees are making a big comeback because of new European bans on bee-killing pesticides, making our food safer to eat all along the food chain.
5. Inflation is coming down, it has been falling for the last six months, and could be dropping as low as 2% by the end of the year.
6. COVID-19 is finally rolling back thanks to the level of vaccinations and hopefully will soon become endemic rather than pandemic. The long national nightmare is becoming closer than ever to being yesterday’s news.
So don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, don’t be angry about things we have no control over, and don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
We all do the best that we can with what we are given. We all strive to improve our lot in life. We all need to help others out in their times of need.
We need to realize and accept that we are all in this adventure we call life together.
That every day is precious, and that there is no time or need to rush through the simple pleasures. Just enjoy each day as it comes.
Savor each moment of life and awareness of the gift that it is.
Find the joy in the now, never look back, and just be kind. We are all connected…