I don't make New Year's resolutions. Which is not to say I don't try and make changes in my life - alter patterns, try new things, ditch bad habits - I just don't feel the need to do any of those things on a prescribed day.
There is one thing I want to accomplish this year though, I want to write more. I have the time, I never run out of ideas to write about and I want to improve that talent. My children's story, The Last Maple Leaf, which I wrote in 1999 is now in final editing and the search for an illustrator is a work in progress.
I'll begin early in 2021 on my blog page - TWS The Wright Stuff. Looking back, I see I only wrote one post in 2020, one in 2019... and not a single post in 2017 or 2018. No wonder I have so few followers... not much to follow!
Here is a philosophy I have been pondering during the pandemic - the circle of life (the theme in The Last Maple Leaf), and the future.
A couple of years ago while gazing into a night sky, it occurred to me that my life was being lived out in quarters... like a football game. Last year, I determined those quarters to be 23 years each.
Call it the famous 23 Skidoo outside The Flatiron Building in Manhattan.
The first twenty-three the learning years, the next twenty-three the driven/growing years. The third twenty-three the productive years. I have one year of my third quarter left before I take the ball and embark upon a final twenty-three years of writing, volunteering, traveling, mentoring and being a better friend to my friends.
If I am honest, with whatever time I have left... I want to make a difference... and I don't want to turn down any challenge I deem worthwhile. And no, I'm not predicting that I will live to 92. The game could be called early for weather - or maybe it goes into overtime. If it does, I hope I am fit enough to play it out!
A very wise man once suggested we could think about life as a sporting event. "What makes it exciting and interesting?", he asked. The answer: It is interesting and exciting because we don't know how it will turn out. What twists and turns will occur as the game nears the end? Excitement until the final whistle, the last at bat, the winning goal... are what keeps it interesting.
Now consider a game that never ends... just goes on forever. Neither interesting nor exciting.
Playing the game of life is playing a game that ends, make yours worth watching!
Right up to the final play.
