To new beginnings. To this 2023
by Ketcia Peters
Friday 30 December, 2022
How does one write about new beginnings when everything seems to be going to the worst? How does one succeed in telling what a good resolution could be?
Going to the gym. That’s a good resolution. Which systematically fail.
Lose weight and quit eating junk food. That is also good. That seems to fail also quite a bit.
Reducing the psychological toxicity around. That’s wonderful. I’ll let you know whenever I actually succeed.
But how does one truly write about beginnings? And I’m not talking about resolutions regarding trivial things. I’m talking about thinking honestly about the future and coming up with just joy and positive thoughts. You can’t. The last few years have been so rough and, at times, dramatic that thinking about positivity alone would feel like an insult.
So I won’t tell you that all is just dandy.
We’re all aware that life is a roller-coaster, and that occasionally things can go south real quick.
I shall be frank with you. Frank and honest.
This year will be just as any other year. Maybe worst in some aspects. But I don’t like being grim.
Being realistic does not always equal being cynical or harsh. Being realistic means, most of the time, just appreciating the little things that life reserves for us. Life’s details… That’s where happiness lies. Knowing that this year will be as brutal or good as any others means that we won’t undertake hopeless tasks with half-ass interests and commitment. It means that we know, at least deep down, all of our limits and the extent of our abilities and we will respect them more.
New beginnings do not start hoping that everything will be different while acting the same way. And they definitely do not start with the First of January each year. They start every time we commit to something, or we promise to ourselves and the world that this time we will go all the way.
T.S. Eliot would say that “every moment is a fresh beginning”.
Everyone is deserving of a fresh starts. And maybe the start of a new year makes us feel that way. Maybe we need to feel that we’re not the only ones starting over.
Quite often, fresh starts are the result of our own choices. We start over and begin afresh when we decide to start over and take control of our lives.
So, in this manner, we have the choice to both welcome new beginnings and forge our own.
Not just now. Not because the years advance. But because we start to truly appreciate the details of things, and we grab our chances to, once again, try again.
So, to new beginnings. To this 2023. To new goals and happiness.
And who knows, maybe we’ll also go to the gym.
Ketcia Peters is an entrepreneur and community advocate for economic inclusion and development for Black Canadians and the social justice sector. Her firm, Ketcia Peters Group Inc. (KPG) provides bilingual organizational and human development services to the public and private sector. This includes analysis and coaching of HR practices, strategic planning, organizational change, equity and inclusivity, and anti-racism. KPG also provides individual and group coaching. In recent years, KP Group Inc. has shifted to greatly expand its equity, diversity and inclusivity work at the municipal and community level, with a focus on anti-racism and anti-oppression. This work centers on a trauma-informed approach in order to ensure we do not cause further harm to those most marginalized in our communities. Visit her website at: https://ketciapeters.com/