There’s Something About the Beginning of a New Year

Screen Shot 2018-01-11 at 1.08.40 PM

Resolutions? You bet. Within our Pediatric Therapeutics community, our therapists and staff are, for the most part, resolution setters who made commitments to themselves at the beginning of 2017 that, a year later, have been integrated into the rhythms of their lives. How about that?! Moving into 2018, most of us have moved on to other resolutions, while some of us see ourselves as more involved in an ongoing process of goal setting. The New Year as a source of inspiration? We all consider it as such! More of us are inspired by the new year than by our own birthdays or those of others (except the birthdays of our own children or family elders, which were highly inspiring ). More of us are inspired by the New Year than by the beginnings of new days. Even those of us who feel the inspiration brought by a new day feel the uniqueness of January 1.

The end of a year and beginning of a new one come to mind as a singular event that’s not only acknowledged but celebrated throughout the world and marked by most people. When else does the world community join together as it does when ushering in a new year, and when else do so many people think and speak about personal change? Humankind continues a profound practice of honoring time, its steady beat of passage and the multitude of rhythms within it. At the beginning of a year the power of this practice seems to be at its all time highest, likely contributing to the infectious cycle of renewal, refreshment and resolve that January 1 spurs in a way unlike any other day of the calendar year.

Most Pediatric Therapeutics therapists and staff resolutions/goals center around a few common themes – simplification; slowing down to fully experience, enjoy and appreciate; positivity; and physiologic foundations of wellbeing (aka sleep, diet and movement). Some of us make ourselves accountable with very specific commitments and plans, while others among us hold our pledges as conscious thoughts. With either approach, living the process of making personal change includes granting oneself permission to start anew, no matter what, no matter when…not such an easy thing, as a few of our group wisely point out.

What if the New Year came with a wish list? Our does! Health (personal, family members, friends) topped the Pediatric Therapeutics New Year’s wish list. More family time, at home and away, was right up there too. A wish for longer lasting special moments also got a shout out. It may come as a surprise, but we’re not a group in which winning the lottery is the top wish…oh, but wouldn’t that be something!

The newness time can offer us is a gift like no other, whether it begins with January 1, a birthday, a day, January 1, or one of those special moments. A true gift that keeps giving, and ours for the taking, to be and do with it what we will! Powerful, perhaps daunting, and an undeniable source of inspiration!

–Sheila Allen, MA, OT

Comments are closed.