By Miles Clyne

The month of December can be the most challenging month of year and not just if you happen to be a Scrooge. First, there’s eating and drinking too much and then add in skipping exercise and arguing with family, friends and whoever about the pandemic and politics.

THE CHOICES WE MAKE

All of the above involves choices, and sometimes the only choice we have is how we handle a choice that was made for us. There are lots of these including speed limits, taxes, isolating, embracing or accepting or possibly just living with the leaders we didn’t vote for.  

2020 & 2021 are a couple of years of confusion and chaos. They have pretty much been dumpster fires for society in general. Toss in issues like climate change and desperately hoping we get back to normal or what will be the new normal and it is surprising most of us got out of bed for the last couple of years.  

Putting the negative aside, if you are reading this, odds are you are still living a pretty good life and it can be easy to lose perspective. I read some time ago that if you want to be happy, make someone else happy. Another great source of happiness comes from the mindfulness of seeing someone else who is experiencing joy and being joyful for them.  We choose to be lovers or haters.

ONE THING WE ALL EXCEL AT

It is easy to get great at doing the same things every day. Each day, consciously or not, we tell the world who we are through our actions and each day, through our decisions, we are choosing the type of person we are by expressing our values through our actions.

We are each the sum total of the decisions we’ve made and the actions we’ve taken up until today. If we take stock of who we are telling the world we are today (through your actions since people care more about your actions than your words) and you aren’t pleased with what/whom you have found, you can do something about that, starting today.

TODAY IS A NEW PAGE IN OUR BOOKS

Who do you want to be today and going forward? How do you want to end this year? You might need all of the inner resources you can muster.

I am not saying you need to be your absolute best, lose your pandemic weight, learn a few languages, and write a book. I’m stating the obvious. We are all going to be a certain kind of person no matter the challenges individually or collectively we face. The question is: are you going to lay claim to the person you most want to be like and live your life with purpose?

Part of being human is not having regrets in our final days, months and possibly years of our life. If you knew you had not long to live, what would you regret the most? If we answer this question truthfully, we start eliminating what is in our way to live a life of intentional behaviour.

In the words of the late Sidney Poitier, I am the me I choose to be. Be brave at being who you want to be.