Every year, our phones light up with messages on the midnight dot from friends, family, and lovers afar wishing us all a happy and healthy New Year. As much as January 1st is just one day of 366 this year, it serves as a reminder that a New Year brings us all New opportunities and chances.

The sheer thought of refreshing our brains to move forward in a new light IS enough to build into a positive new pathway. The New Year is the reminder that we can improve ourselves and how we both react and act with others. It’s a reminder of how we hone and perfect our responses and reactions to the obstacles that life throws at us. Ask yourselves; “How can I still triumph in defeat?” If your past year was a tough one, know that there are pathways yet uncharted and undiscovered that we can find but it is purely in our own right and on our own volition that we can chart that course to finding that new, fresh way. Pivoting, seeking advice, learning, and acting are essential to finding that new pathway.

I’m always reminded of important figures in our lives past and present. President Nixon, like him or not, was down and out in 1960 after losing to President Kennedy. The election was contestable, fraud was arguably rampant and he could have drawn out the election further into chaos but conceded without protestation. He ran for Governor of California in 1962 and lost yet again. A real downer for a then Former Vice President. And yet after seeing the field, reassessing how to handle a changing technological dynamic, he reimagined himself and was elected President in 1968. Certainly, Richard Nixon made abhorrent decisions in conduct during his own Presidency and we look at that as a black stain on a politician who had successfully rebuilt himself but his ability to rebuild himself to become the 37th President of the United States is notable.

Today, we have Adele, a magnificent performer who was faced with a vocal trauma after releasing her second album. She went silent, on hiatus. Many spoke of her demise and the allayed concern about a host of factors resulting in some necessary vocal surgery. For any performer, the thought of vocal surgery can be crucifying. And yet, here, this performer was diligent in recognizing her issue, acknowledged what needed to be done, fixed it, and likely removed much of the emotion surrounding her publicly perceived shortcoming. She’s a dedicated woman to her craft and now has a new record that is chart setting. I look up to her for her excellence in being a warrior for her work and her craft and continuing the good fight.

New Years brings to us the opportunity to be objective with ourselves; it’s a tangible reminder that time is constantly moving forwards and doesn’t stop. Harness the energy of this New Year, think positively, and DO. It’s on you to go the distance and it’s on you to survive and thrive, not on anyone other person or agency.  The knowledge that it is on YOU to get out there and just go for it IS great power.

Happy New Years.