Thank You 2024

Compliments of the new year to you and your loved ones, may the coming year bring you much joy.

At this time of the year it is common for people to make resolutions and commit themselves to specific goals for the year ahead. These are usually challenges people set, with the hope that they will accomplish them. At the time of setting resolutions many of us are well meaning, even though research shows that only few actually keep to their resolutions.

The challenge with resolutions is that they are future oriented. We plan, with all good intention, but with no insight into what the future will actually bring. And so resolutions become the wishes we have, the desires we harbour and the hope we have in our ability to act on them. The lack of progress on those resolutions is therefore not necessarily a bad reflection on the resolutions themselves or those who have set them. Its just that life happens and when one made the resolution, they had no insight into what the future had instore for them.

What we do have full sight of though is the past. We can look back and recall the events of the past year, especially those which were significant to us. We recall the facts of the events and we also recall the emotions of the events. The more significant the event the stronger the glue which sticks it in our memory banks, making it easier to recall and even re-live it.

I look back at 2024 with the confidence of one who knows what she is looking at. I look back and I see the valleys and the mountains travelled. I see the challenges endured and I see the victories celebrated. And, depending on my mood, sometimes the challenges seem to shine brighter than the victories. Neuro-science tells us that the mind is poised to see the negatives more that the positives. Apparently this is a survival tactic. One needs to be able to see things that mean them harm so that they can react appropriately. No one wants an unpleasant surprise. And this is why the mind seems to be programmed to focus on the negatives more.

What we then need to do is to be deliberate about seeking out the positives. We need to seek and tease out the good or we run the risk of overlooking them. One may look back at 2024 and conclude that it was not a good year, only because the terrible experiences scream louder that the terrific ones.

So I want to look back at 2024 with gratitude, even before I can articulate what it is that I am grateful for. I want to look back and say thank you because I know if I do look closer I will find plenty to be grateful for.

I am grateful for the obvious blessings I experienced, big or small. Actually I appreciate that there are no small blessings, they were all relevant and appropriate for my situation.

I am grateful for the expected blessings and I’m grateful for the surprises. I am thankful for the daily bread ensuring my survival and I’m thankful for the treats which were just for my indulgence.

I am grateful for all that which I achieved through my effort and for that which is nothing but grace and favour. There are things I look back on and am grateful for the strength I had to realise by myself. But there are those that I look back on and I wonder how they came to be.

I am grateful for the faithfulness of the sunrise and sunset, which was never affected by my mood or my need. I am grateful for the seasons which operated outside of my strength, and did their thing whether I deserved it or not.

I am especially grateful for the pearls which were hidden inside hard shells of challenges. Because of those experiences I now know that I can actually break hard shells. I now know that I have sufficient resources to break through the impossible. I now know that the seemingly impenetrable shells surrounding my blessings are indeed breakable. And so I am grateful for the hard shells for they revealed not only the hidden pearls inside but also my capacity to break hard shells.

So, I look back at 2024 and bid it a fond farewell, as one would a dear friend after a time spent together. We may have had our battles, we may have had our arguments but what will linger from the time together are the hugs, the laughter and the moments of connection.

And I also thank 2024 for not leaving me alone but with a friend in 2025. I look forward to the adventurous journey ahead.