I've never been one to attach a special meaning to "The New Year". To me, it's always been a time to have to get used to writing a new year on documents. And when you get down to it, it's a new year because someone decided we should all follow a specific calendar.
This year, there is an added ingredient in this recipe of time and life. I just had a milestone birthday - one of those birthdays where you say, "Playtime is over." Looking ahead to the future that seems to be rushing toward me faster each year, I see healthcare getting impossible to afford. So this New Year has to be the end of the playtime, like eating whatever I want, however much I want, whenever I want, like sitting around with no exercise at all, like impulse buying when I check out the deals and sales on the internet.
Yes, the first half of my life was playtime. The second half has to be nose-to-the-grindstone serious. I may be able to squeeze a little play in there. In fact, it's probably necessary to keep me on the straight and narrow path to good health and financial security. If I didn't allow for a little play, I'd end up scrapping all the seriousness, like I've done countless times before.
Committing these thoughts to paper (so to speak) is one way to put some oomph behind the decision. I can also come back to this post time and again if I need a reminder of why I'm on this path to begin with. This post title referenced a new paradigm and that's what I'm trying to create for the second half of my life. Let's see if I can do it.
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