Here we are: Another year has gone by, carrying with it many things done, so many intense and precious moments that are hard to part from. It is not easy to let them go and we still indulge in the memories. We are often reluctant to separate from the emotions of those moments that are so engaging to the heart and the mind and so meaningful to us. Each of them is like a landmark, they stand out from the rest and mark the way we traveled. They tell your stories, and they are your personal history.
Let's say goodbye to a restless, hectic and very demanding year that made no concessions and therefore even more fulfilling than less challenging years. Let's savor the taste of perseverance and the fruits of resilience. It's the usual time to take stock of our lives. Like it or not, we can't avoid throwing a glance behind us, where our time just-spent still is, staring at us, almost calling our name while fading away in the distance. Can you feel it? Can you hear it? Can you still see the choices we made? The turns we took which got us here?
Deep inside you know you took the right turns. No regrets. And yet for a moment you think how your life would be if a different choice had been made. Those eyes, the laughs, the tears you can't forget, the hug that still lingers, the farewells that you would rather not have given. Those are brush-strokes on the canvas of our lives that are indelible from our souls.
But the past is not the promise of tomorrow. Every day is a new open door, and then another, where we go is our choice or destiny. The new journey begins with all the little things that go unnoticed and continues with the sequence of small steps we take, one after the other. That journey is the airfield from which you will take off, just make sure you sit in the pilot seat and have good visibility. Take time to understand how it works and how to use the flight to our benefit, and with a little practice you realize you can accomplish things you never thought possible. Once you lose sight of the runway keep your route and trust yourself. Enjoy the trip, until it's time to land.
Don't let yourself be overwhelmed by the turbulence, let your values and principles drive you even when you feel stuck in a stalemate and you can't find the exit button to open a way out. Yes, it consumes a good deal of energy and we must draw on our deepest beliefs and resources to go through and hold on. But then, all of a sudden, a door bursts open letting in a wealth of options and opportunities you had not even dared to hope. It's a present from life itself, because life loves the strong-willed and never forgets to reward them.
So goodbye, 2013, it's been a tough 12 months for some and a rewarding period for others; we will usher the new year with the knowledge that 2013 was a tumultuous time, which was hard to keep up with. We await to see the new year blossom and we will take one last look at the year that was, full of hard work and challenges, steep climbs and furious descents, but in the end that's what makes us say that life is worth living!