As the year comes to a close I find myself reflecting on 2009 and considering what the beginning of 2010 means. I’ve been reading my friends updates on FB and most seem to be very glad to have this year come to an end and are looking forward to what the new year will being.
For me, 2009 has been a rather uneventful year even though the media is calling it the worst year of the decade. The economy did not do so well which forced changes in the lives of many. However, my life has changed pretty dramatically throughout the decade so I really do not find 2009 much different from 2008 or even 2007 for that matter.
In reading the news, the main question seems to be “What will 2010 bring?” I much rather prefer to think of it in terms of what I will do and wish to accomplish in the new year much rather than how outside forces will affect me. In other words, I will not let 2010 push me around but instead prefer to have plans in place so I can react as I wish instead of simply accepting what is handed to me.
So what are my plans for 2010? Well, for the first part at least I will simply continue doing what I did in 2009. We’ll still be in San Francisco and I’ll still be working to drive revenue while assisting my customers with their goals and initiatives. If the economy continues to worsen and cuts at the company were to come I still find myself extremely mobile and able to depart. In this case we would most likely head back to Japan where the economy is no better but I am not afraid of rolling the dice one more time to see what comes of it. Further, I would be much more inclined to settle down there (buy a house) than I would be in extremely expensive San Francisco.
Yet, the probability of this at the moment is very small so the real plan is to just wait and see what cards are dealt and how things progress. In some ways, it is very advantageous to keep mobile but on the other hand I keep getting older and apartment life cannot last forever. For the moment however, it will suffice and we will continue enjoying SF and making new discoveries.
I often wonder about those that really want to forget 2009 and think the change of the year will bring anything different. Sure, 2009 was terrible and the economy affected so many. Yet, it is times like this that the book “Who Moved My Cheese,” really becomes important. The trouble seems to be that the cheese is scarce around the country and is no longer just a matter of being able to relocate as it is simply finding the cheese. For many, they really do not want to adapt and prefer to stay in the same place and keep the same lifestyle. I feel lucky that I have experience in disrupting set habits / routines for completely new ones and have no fear of change. I feel that if one is not able to adapt and change their habits then a simple change of year really changes nothing and it is a change in attitude and behaviors that would make one year really different from the next.
It may be that it is simply human behavior to want security and to establish routines. In doing so we know what to expect and do not have to deal with the unknown. I even find myself sometimes fearing a major change and it is in times like these that I know I have to readjust my thinking. One of the main problems is the simulator we use in our heads that is most often never correct. In imagining what a change in location/career might bring, our minds try to play out the scenario and if it would be a good move or not. Yet, I have found that these simulations are almost never correct.
Therefore, when I make a big change I simply have to remind myself to stop thinking about it and just do it. No amount of mental simulation will make the experience better or worse, it will simply unfold as it is supposed to be. Then I find that keeping the right attitude will make the experience positive and positive experiences will automatically manifest themselves. There is really something to be said for mentally determining how we want an experience to be. If we are always thinking negatively then the experience will be negative and the opposite of being positive will actually make the experience positive.
I guess it really gets a bit philosophical in that some experiences can seem really bad but isn’t the real determinate in the mind? Would ti be better to control one’s own mind instead of letting outside events set the agenda for our own mental state? For me, this is my logic when living in another country and the experience being so profound I really do find that I must make the experience instead of it making me.
So, with 2010 coming in just a few hours I really do not see it as a new time frame that will determine what will happen to me, but instead how I will shape this year according to what I want to achieve instead of the other way around.
At this point I wish I had some profound plan of action but it would seem I do not. The first part of the year is “wait and see,” remain mobile, and react to the hand dealt to me.
So, tonight we’ll probably just go out to a close corner bar and I’ll use my iPhone “Pocket Cocktails” to randomly select a drink or two. We’ll say hello to the usual bar fellows and then most likely return home to open up a bottle of St. Francis and watch Netflix while listening to all the drunk people outside.
Goodbye 2009, you were uneventful but stable. 2010, I start dealing with you around the beginning of April once I know your temperament.
