It's happened before, and it's happening again. We heard it at the start of 2016, 2015, 2014... well, you get the idea. Everyone counts down the ball drop and opens up the new year with hopes of having the "best year ever." For a lucky few, it comes to fruition, and they really do have the best year of their lives. But for the rest of us, it always comes crashing down at some point, whether it be in a large way or in little instances scattered throughout the year. Something always happens to let us down, and the elusive "best year ever" never seems to arrive the way we hoped it would at the beginning. So, how do we fix it? How can we get that magical perfect year? Well, I think I've found a way and I'm excited to implement my plan in the upcoming year. My foolproof plan: Don't wish for it at all. In fact, don't even think about it for the whole year.
I know that this doesn't make sense on the surface. How could you have the perfect year if you don't even wish for it? And if you don't think about it for the whole year, how could you regularly be fighting for it? The way I see it, a perfect year is impossible. 365 days of having nothing go wrong is not only unlikely, it's not healthy.
The road that is a year has a ton of twists and turns (sometimes the wrong ones). There are parts where the highway is jam packed, and there are others where we can fly down it pushing 100mph. It is such an up and down experience that to hope for everything to be perfect is simply going to let you down. We're all going to get pulled over or get in an accident at some point (metaphorically speaking, I hope), so the easiest way to make this year a good one is to accept that now and take it in stride.
Difficult times, while affecting your year in a negative way, can still be a positive experience. Being able to learn from these tough circumstances can make you a stronger person than you entered the new year as. Not only that, but constantly chasing a "best year ever" can actually harm your chances of finding it. If your expectations are through the roof before anything even begins, you're bound to find something wrong at some point, which is dangerously unhealthy. Every moment has its own beauty, and if you're constantly looking forward and planning what's ahead, you miss the simplest of good times.
Maybe you lost a job but it ended up pushing you to a new career you love. Or maybe your heart was broken, but a new prospect comes in and re-sweeps you off of your feet. It may be raining today, but that just means there are more puddles to jump it. There is good in everything if you only try to look for it, even a so-called "botched year."
So, in conclusion, I don't want 2017 to be a perfect year. I just want to take every day as it comes and make the best of it; and, maybe if I'm lucky, be able to add 365 good days into a great year. It doesn't need to be flawless, just a good one.
