So, here we are at year’s end, 2021. I’ve heard, several times lately, how glad someone is to have this year over. It brought up an interesting thought to mind, for me. That being the fact that I don’t recall ever having an entire year that I just wanted to “be over”. There have been good years. There have been years that things just didn’t go all that well. But, I can’t say that I’ve ever had a year that I just wanted to be over. Good riddance.
I’ve had years that have contained experiences that I’m grateful to be past. Usually, I look at these as something that I’m grateful for the experience, I just don’t want to do that again. An example would be the year that I spent landscaping during a South Carolina summer. Hot, humid, sweaty, wearing, sometimes even brutal days. I endured through this all, I’m grateful for the experience and knowing what that is like. But, I don’t ever want to do that again. This was an element of that year that was very stressful for me. In fact, I didn’t like working for the company that I was with at the time. As difficult as it was to work for them, and deal with the summer, I could not (at the end of the year), get into a mood of being glad that the year was over. It was a year full of uncomfortable and stressful circumstances. Yet, it was a year full of opportunities for new events that would add to my current biography of life opportunities and lessons.
Once again I have to go to the understanding that I could not ever comprehend what it is like to work under the southern summer weather, unless I actually was hands on with those elements. This year is no different. As the year progressed, summer found me driving cross country, taking some short term work on the opposite side of the continent, in Oregon. During that time, I had to deal with my truck breaking down, with a total of $9,000.00 repair and towing bill, and driving across the country solo, both directions.
End of summer was involved with packing up and changing apartment. That was followed by my quitting the job that I didn’t like, starting my own business with only a prayer and hope that I would be able to come up with enough work to sustain myself, and landing a connection with a company that has in fact handed me enough jobs to more than cover what I needed. During this time, the stress of the move also wreaked havoc on my personal relationship. But overall, I still am not wanting to just put this year behind me. The events of the year may have been stressful. But, the year was another passage in the time of my life that I don’t care to disregard and be done with.
Even now, my hands hurt, my head hurts, my heart hurts, I sit in a heightened emotional state, and yet cannot take the attitude of “I’m so glad this year is over”.
Peter