2023 needs to be a clean slate, and the reason for that is simple. It is the first year of this decade that looks like we may have a full 12 months uninterrupted by pandemic lockdowns, masked conversations, sanitised handshakes and innocent coughs viewed with suspicion.
For that reason, I feel like I need to repeat what I said at the beginning of 2020, when the social sucker punch that hit us a mere two months later was just a rumour that we nervously spoke about in hushed tones.
It’s not such a distant memory just yet, and – with talk of a new Covid variant circulating in China – there’s still a chance that it could all return with a Groundhog vengeance.
But we remain optimistic and embrace the encouraging signs that we might be able to permanently put it all behind us this year. One of those signs is of course the world’s mostly open borders and the influx of tourists that Cape Town has been experiencing over the last few weeks.
With all of that in mind, and one week into what we at my radio station are calling Twenty-Twenty-Free, I thought it would be prudent to remind you of what I said at the beginning of 2020 – the darkest year in modern human history.
I don’t even know if people still bother to make resolutions, but no doubt those that have been made, may already be lying in ruins. Some joke that resolutions are merely another name for the to-do list for the first week of a new year.
Be that as it may, resolutions don’t have to be restricted to the start of a year. Nothing stops us from trying to keep them all year round; to continuously improve ourselves and our circumstances; to dream bigger dreams and strive for excellence. In other words, if the promises you made yourself last week are important enough to you, then you will keep at it, until you succeed at them.
We forget that failure is an important part of the road to success. It’s also important to note that this is not only a new year, but – considering that the last two years have been write-offs – this is essentially the proper start of the decade; a start that Covid came and stole from us. This means you can start working on very long-term plans for yourself and your family.
For example, in January 2020 I wrote about how I hoped to do something about the fact that it had been years since I had travelled internationally, something I was very fond of doing, when I could afford to.
I ended my comments by saying: “I have started planning for how I am going to achieve it in the next two to three years. I know it’s going to be tough, but that’s all part of the story we will tell when it’s all said and done.”
Well, verbalising that to you, turned out to be me speaking my wishes into existence – a manifestation of sorts. Last year, in what was a milestone birthday month for me, I was fortunate enough to experience Atlanta, Georgia – my first trip to the USA, which I documented on my radio show and wrote about in this page.
Now you guys know that I put a lot of faith in the empirical virtues of science, so it isn’t easy for me to connect my wishful expressions one moment, to an identical experience some time later.
But I’m also not so narrow-minded as to dismiss it out of hand. I suppose what I’m trying to say is, have faith in the seemingly impossible. It may be your time to be astounded at how possible it is to get what you believe you deserve.