The path ahead

New Year.
 
Someone wished me a Happy New Year saying “Who knows what it will bring?”
 
My response was “Good times. Bad times. And a range in between. Adapt and survive.”
 
This was the reply that I received.
 
“I’m going with exciting opportunities and amazing choices. Not only is my glass half-full, it runs over”.
 
Now I have never been a fan of the glass half full thing. The glass is half full and half empty at the same time.
 
It seems to me that no matter what one’s high aspirations and hopes may be, the reality of life and the difficulties that it throws down the line at us mean that sometimes life is really challenging, really hard work and sometimes full of great sadness.
 
For some people, they don’t have exciting opportunities. They have no access to amazing choices. They just have to play with the cards they were dealt with, and for some those cards are shockingly bad, and won’t get any better.
 
So I think I prefer my response. The road ahead will not be smooth. There will be potholes and there will be paths that go nowhere and might require a backtrack to find the best way forward again. Sometimes it will look like the path has been washed away or is completely blocked.

We’ll need help from others to get us through some of the bad patches. And we’ll have to watch out for those around us who look like they aren’t going to make it. They will need our support.
 
I’d much rather be mentally prepared for those challenges and be ready to accept that life isn’t quite what one might hope for, than go with some illusory view that there are always “exciting opportunities and amazing choices”. We're stupid. Sometimes we make some TERRIBLE choices.
 
I want to watch out for those who stumble, who are weak through no fault of their own, who would love access to everything that most of us just take for granted without a second thought. I want to see them finish the race.
 
But every now and then, there will be moments when we crest the brow of what seemed like a never-ending mountain to climb, and we will be greeted with the most amazing views. The clouds will lift – even if just for a few moments – and we will gain a glimpse of beautiful things, of meaningful things, of deep things.

And it’s those moments that will keep us going, and the people we see them with. And sometimes we only find the value of those things when we have walked through the valley of the shadow of death.
 
Here’s to 2023. Brace for impact.