Have you seen the musical, Rent? It’s not the…jolliest of plots. It centres around a group of ‘artists’ dealing with, drugs, AIDS, death (I wont go into too much detail on the chance I put you off – it is a classic - honestly). However, there are a couple of moments that are less depressing and more about the wonderful nature of the human spirit. In the song ‘Seasons of Love’ the question is posed ‘How do you measure a year?’.
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in the life?
How about love? Measure in love!
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?
In truths that she learned or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned or the way that she died.
A year is a funny thing – where do you start? A year in your life starts with your birthday, so maybe my year goes on till April. Or maybe you go to school – chances are you often start your ‘year’ in September. For most of us we simply refer to our diary – a year rolls from January to January. From one new years eve to the next.
This time I’m bookmarking my year with Decembers. With specific events in December actually. This ‘year’ really started for me with a silly blue hat, some good friends, some new faces, a hells angel wedding and a curry. Up until that day I was doing just fine. I mean, I had everything you really need. I was optimistic about what the new year would bring. The day marked the start of my Christmas festivities, my favourite time of year.
Friends were plentiful, gifts were exchanged, there was a tree and stockings and singing.
And it was perfect.
The year that has followed it, however, has been…less than. Within a couple of months I had handed in my notice at my job, and by April the 1st I was out of love with my vocation and left in a cloud of depression. Bad times tend to travel in herds don’t they? So these months were also dotted with illness, financial worries, funerals, unemployment, followed closely by massive upheavals in my home life.
The specifics don’t really matter. Time passes – shit happens. Life goes on.
Here is the first thing I have learnt: However your year pans out, don’t mark your year by misfortunes and misery. Measure in the good things that happen to you. In the people in your life that make you smile. In the moments you’ve held your breath, stepped off the edge and taken a risk. The people that live long and happy lives are the people that know how to celebrate the little victories.
As for how the rest of the year panned out (and to find out how I'll bookmark the other end!) I'll let you know in Part 2 in a couple of weeks…
In the mean time, how was your year?
