New Year's resolutions, anyone?

New Year's Day is, and always has been, very famous for many of us to bring forth ambitious plans with the promise they will change our lives to the better. We wake on January 1st and, by no later than breakfast, we launch a grandiose personal agenda that will make us better people. Those agendas come in many different forms and sizes, but the overall motif that can be read in our resolutions usually points at the aspiration for self-improvement. Sounds good, does it not? No other day of the year is more qualified to reflect the chance for a new beginning, right?​

I've been asked three times this week what my New Year's resolutions are all about. To be quite honest with you, I haven't made any. Oh, this is not because I'm ignorant to goals or personal improvement. No, please don't assume that. I made enough mistakes myself and, by all means, I have some things I need to work on and I will. People who know me also do know how ambitious I can be and how important it is to me to have my personal aims and values. Trust me, people close to me do know very well how my impatience and persistence can drive them mad at times!

However, the thing is, whilst we're writing our magnificent list, making plans how 2018 is going to turn into our best year ever, life is already happening. From New Year's Eve to New Year's Day no one is a different person. Like love, changes do never happen overnight.

And so, instead of writing down a catalogue of restrictions, please remember your beauty, inside and out. Please remember how very special you are. Please remember that your uniqueness is not based on how many extraordinary goals you can accomplish. Your uniqueness is partly innate, as inborn as your innermost self, and partly the result of what you have become when you were on your own. Please remember what is so amazing about you: your ideas, your actions, your honesty, your moral compass, your openness, your understanding and kindness, your incredible humour. Please remember the fighter within you that has gotten you so far and made you the great person you are today. Please remember that it is not at all odd to have emotions, no matter whether they are difficult for others to understand or not. Please remember that your mind, your body, your heart, your soul, your voice are not some 'broken' things that need repair. They are your wonderful assets that can be built from, and I think that's absolutely perfect for the next 365 days. A very Happy New Year to you. May anything you wish and hope for come true.

Photo: Warnemuende Beach, 7 Jan 2018