Planning A Future

Sunday, December 29, 2024

Two days and counting to this year’s ending and another’s beginning.

I am starting to wrestle with the value of New Year’s resolutions. Should I formalize my key reflections on the year ahead by committing them to paper?

I am always looking forward, casually planning, and mentally preparing for what might come next. Yet, solidifying my floating notions and aspirations into concrete, written goals feels strangely daunting.

Practical matters aren’t making me pause. Caring for my horses, Pimmy the donkey, and my dogs are clear responsibilities with measurable goals. My biggest challenges are grappling with the unknowns: the unpredictable economic landscape’s potential impact on my life, the logical best ways of pursuing my more whimsical dreams, and mostly, identifying a wise path toward the future I wish for and the steps to take.

Maybe concerns are making me pause. There’s a weight of expectations that could inhibit achieving formal resolutions. By defining goals too rigidly, their possibilities might be limited. On the other hand, I could feel wonderfully liberated by articulating my aspirations, giving them shape and form.

As this year ends, I’m struggling with the delicate balance of perceiving ways to embrace the unknown and chart a doable course toward the future.

Dear Friends: Goal setting means dancing between serendipity and intention. Diana