ANNUS HORRIBILIS

Frankly, I never thought I'd quote Queen Elizabeth II but I must admit that her annus horribilis mention in 1992 seems appropriate to describe this past year. This is not a self-pity post. Many in all nooks and crannies of this planet have gone through far worse than me in 2017. Let's face it, an uncontrollable graph of good and bad is part of everyone's existence.

Edinburgh Castle

Some armchair philosophy:

For eons, people have courted fortunetellers in an effort to know their future. The basic assumption is that what we hear will most likely be good news, or if it's bad news, we can somehow prepare for it or change something in our behaviour that will prevent the inevitable. In my opinion, this doesn't fall within the realism spectrum, (it does make for great stories though). Oftentimes if we were to know what was coming up, we'd immediately stick our heads in the sand.

Just as futile as trying to anticipate the future is looking back on our past with regrets. Muttering "If only I had done this, my life would have turned out differently" is a pointless exercise. Hindsight should only be undertaken as a learning activity. "Ok, I goofed there. I'll try not to do that again!" Rumination leads to diddly squat.

There are times in the "present" when things become overwhelming but we trudge on because at some basic pre-programmed level or with maturity, we know that most circumstances are temporary (unfortunately some temporaries are really really long). If our pain and demands are not short-lived, then we usually find a way to tolerate them. Sometimes we are dealt the life-threatening disease card, the chronic pain card, the disaster card, the death card. We feel our way through agonizing experiences, come up for air every once in a while and work hard to fight or adapt. We are creatures who pick up and start again until we are too tired to do so. 

As the end of 2017 approaches, it's time to turn the page, ignore the news, and fire on all cylinders. Special thanks to all of you who follow my blog. I wish everyone a healthy annus mirabilis or better still, a year filled with wonder.

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