i'm quitting my job on monday - i finally got a new career...

here's to new beginnings in 2004.

+m+

++ mitchjel ++  31 Dec 2003

I woke up one morning in 2003 and figured it all out. Everything I hated about my present life, about the last three years, was all rooted in my college major. Mornings of skipping classes, days without sleep, and a brief period of stress-induced panic attacks should have made it obvious sooner. I vowed to turn my back on it, and follow my heart -- so I did, and found myself much happier. Art may not be where the money is, but it's where I am now.

The rest of the year is but a drab blur compared to that one moment of realization and the actions that followed.

I go into 2004 with high hopes. The doldroms of the past three years behind me, everything looks promising. There's a world to be had in 2004 if I can just wait a few more hours to usher it in.

Colin  31 Dec 2003

In retrospect, this year has been one of great sadness. It has also been a year of learning (and re-learning) some important life lessons for me, but then I always feel this at the end of every year.

One of the most important things I've learned is to make myself stronger from the inside, to trust my own instincts more, and to listen to and pay more attention to my inner voice.

There are those who will only want to lift you higher, and will do so. Those are the people I want in my life. You know who you are, and for each and every one of you, I am truly thankful. I have some of the most wonderful friends anyone could have ever asked for, I couldn't dream up better ones. And with them I feel safe to be myself. With them I feel the true meaning of the words "love" and "friendship". And through doing this weblog I have met several amazing and wonderful people, and look forward to getting to know each of you better in 2004.

I'm starting to feel that it's okay to have my feelings and express them. Even if others don't agree, even if others might think how I feel is ridiculous, who are they to tell me that? These are my feelings and if FOR NO OTHER REASON than that, they are valid. If you want to convince me that there is another way to think about things, sure, I'll listen to you and appreciate your take on things, because that's how you feel. However, I expect you to afford me the same courtesy. But without having my heart stomped on, thank you very much. If you feel the need to stomp, please go stomp somewhere else.

I've learned that it's okay to be unique, I guess what I'm trying to say here is that I've always known I was sort of different. "Who put such a high price on being typical?" I loved that line from Almost Famous. Isn't that a classic? To listen to my own inner music, and to be true to that sound.

There is a time to rest, a time to create and a time to explore. And sometimes this is given to us (or forced upon us) when we least expect it, or even, perhaps, when we least want it. Ahhh, but the embracing of it can be such a gift, if we allow ourselves to do so.

To let that which does not matter truly slide.

We each move at our own pace, in all aspects of our lives. Remember the story about the animal school? "This tiny school had 3 students, a bird, a rabbit and a fish. The bird was a superb flyer, but not that good at swimming. The rabbit could hop better than the other two, but wasn't horrible at flying. And the fish, well the fish was a lousy flyer and couldn't hop at all, but he was the best swimmer." My point here is that I believe you can't make a rabbit into a fish anymore than you can make yourself (or another person for that matter) into someone else.

You are who you are, celebrate that!

Can a person change? I think they can, most definitely. But they have to want to do it, and for their own reasons: nobody can do it for them.

Fear is just a barrier to creativity, letting go is a powerful thing. I've learned to let go. Everything can fall down (and this year it did), and I still survived. I believe that it's how you handle yourself while everything is falling down around you, that grace that comes from within that counts.

Yes, hope emerges triumphant. But even more important than hope is love. You can empower yourself, when you decide to live your life and listen to your heart, to learn from your past, enjoy your present and dream for your future. Yes, I believe that you are that powerful.

The preciousness of every single day. I don't want life to pass me by, but that balance is key.

Yes, these are some of the things I've learned this year.

Thank you, Rhiannon, for teaching me more than I ever imagined I could learn from a 13 year old.

I love you.

[Special thanks to Derek and Heather, who have given so much to us all! Stories, whether written or visual, are a powerful thing -- and such a gift we pass on to future generations.]

myla  31 Dec 2003

My 2003 was a year of change. Turning 30 meant learning that being an adult didn't mean what I thought it meant. And that is a good thing.

Tonight I asked her to marry me. She said yes.

I am full of hope for 2004.

dmp  1 Jan 2004

2003 was so full of work it didn't have enough space for me to live any kind of life. I was too busy tying up loose ends of other people's lives.

My hope for 2004 is that I will have my own story to tell.

Caroline  1 Jan 2004

In 2003 I finally received my U.S. Visa after two years of waiting to go back to school so that my life can continue. At midnight on New Year's Eve, I was passing the Labu station on the last train to Seremban. I had come from Kuala Lumpur, the big, bad Malaysian capital city. It's the place where right about now drunken versions of "Auld Lang Syne" would have being sung while girls in halter tops kiss the next guy that passes them.

I had to go home by 9pm because mom was alone. Dad had gone off somewhere for work. I didn't want to risk losing my visa amidst the wild party. I had fried noodles for dinner. I saw pretty people walking up and down the street, laughing and talking. Loud music blared into the streets from the many bars in the area. Amidst the crowd of shiny, happy. people, I felt alone.

I spotted a girl with blood red lipstick and dark red hair down to her waist standing in front of a broken phone booth with change in her hand. I was calling someone from the next phone booth but couldn't get through. I put a dollar in the machine.

"Would you like to use the phone?", I asked her. holding up the receiver. "There's some change in it." She looked at me with surprise. She had long eyelashes and eyebrows like Jennifer Conolley.

She took out a tiny red purse and looked for coins to pay me. "No, no, it's allright" I tell her but she does not listen. "No, take this" she hands me a dollar. I don't touch it with a ten foot pole. "It's allright, really. It's no big deal" I insist. She thanked me and I wished her a Happy New Year.

I pass a few cops on my walk down the street to the train station. There aren't many cars and nobody is walking on the street but for a little while, I don't feel alone.

When I get back home around 1am, mom's asleep and the lights are out. My German Shepard, Junior walks up to me and wonders if I'm tired. I rub his neck and look at the moon. Stars are out tonight. I made wish.

"It's been a long December and there’s reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last" ---Counting Crows, "A Long December"

"And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing"---Khalil Gibran

Guruchathram Ledchumanan  1 Jan 2004

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9

»

{ add your experience }