Lynne Conlan is executive director of the South Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce. Call her at 813-634-5111, or email lynne@southhillschamber.com. It’s 2022. This is my first column of the new year. So, I know I have to write about this new year. But I’m finding it difficult. I don’t yet trust 2022. He needs to prove to me that he is not going to be anything like his siblings 2020 and 2021. I just want him to come in, sit down, be quiet and don’t do anything stupid. We’ve had enough of stupid.
It’s not that I am a glass half full or half empty person. I only care about what’s actually in the glass. I just need to be sure. The only thing I am sure of is that for the next two months, I will be writing 2021 on my checks and reports. Yes, I still write checks. And they will be returned until I get the hang of the whole 22 thing. I know, that little “one” has got to go. But it takes time.
So, while I worry about running out of checks, let’s get some sage new year’s advice from people a whole lot wiser than I am. According to Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, ‘it will be happier.’ Famed writer T.S. Eliot puts it this way, “Last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.” And according to Helen Keller, “Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.
And Tennyson had more to say, “Ring out the old, ring in the new. Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.” Benjamin Franklin told us, “Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors and let each year find you a better man.” And F. Scott Fitzgerald sounds like he was talking about the last couple of years, “Strength shows not only in the ability to persist, but the ability to start over.”
And some final words from Eleanor Roosevelt, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” As I told you, they are wiser words than mine. But I’ll offer mine up anyway since this column has my name on it. According to me, don’t make any New Year’s resolutions. Over the last two years, you have done enough, you’ve been enough. While pivoting, recalculating and reimagining, you’ve come out the other side – somehow. So don’t make promises you might not be able to keep and then feel bad for a potential failure to deliver early in the year. And remember this message from one of my Christmas presents hanging on the wall: “Life is a beautiful journey. Enjoy every moment.” And happy 2022 to all!
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