Inbetween two New Years

I hope this new year has started well for you. Already we are nearly towards the end of January. 

Living in the tropics, it’s very hard to allow those old January blues to take hold. 

Is it because of the weather? Mmmm, it’s been quite a wet sort of week. (It does happen occasionally here too.) Quite frankly the rain bringing cooler weather is a welcome change because it’s not going to last long. 2016 was the hottest year on record and if things don’t change soon, these kind of statistics will feature more regularly.

There is no time for resting on your laurels in Singapore. No sooner has the countdown to New Year’s Day ended then the  Christmas decorations are whipped down and up go the spring blossom and red and gold hues for Chinese New Year. Mummy’s no longer kissing Santa Claus in the supermarkets as he’s been chased out by a lot of cymbal clashing and Gong Xi, Gong Xi, Gong Xi Ni.

This year, with the Lunar New Year following hot on the heels of the calendar New Year and #1’s Birthday inbetween, there feels like even less time to linger in January. 

And after some of the disappointing events of 2016, we perhaps wish to put some rapid distance between then and now. 

But it is precisely because of those disappointing events that 2017 should count even more. 

I’ve decided without really planning to, that 2017 will be a year of activity. I haven’t set any ambitious goals. I just want to do more. More running. More baking. More hanging out with family and friends. All the things that make me happy and widens my reach and world.

Last year felt confined. That’s the only word I can use to describe it. And realising this, I don’t want this year to continue in the same vein. It’s enough for me to know this. And like enforcing any path of change, you have to be ready to make the conscious decisions that create change yourself. As much as it was clear to others, I had to reach that conclusion myself. 

So today, I wish to thank those closest to me who allowed me to give voice to all those events that had me confined last year. Whilst it was clear to them what I should do, I just wasn’t ready to make a change and whilst I haven’t done anything yet regarding that area, I feel that I can should I need to.

And that’s the difference I see. Change comes from within. Your head, followed by your heart, followed by your head again. 
So I’m picking up the things that I loved doing the year before last and hopefully I’ll learn a few more new things this year to boot.

Tomorrow is the start of the new Lunar New Year. May it be a continuation of good things to come.