“Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments, so dear
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure? Measure a year?”
Those iconic lyrics from the song “Seasons of Love”, featured in the musical Rent, lay out in literal terms what a year is: 525,600 minutes. The heart of the song, however, talks about how it is what you do with those minutes that matter.
As we enter a new year, there will be millions of people making new year’s resolutions, which we know many won’t keep. Each year we try again, however, hoping to fulfill that promise. As they say: hope springs eternal.
Like most people, I set out some goals at the start of a year. Some I get done. Some I don’t. This year, however, I want to strive to do some things that I think are certainly achievable. They are:
Be more patient. I need to work on this one, but especially with my kids. Because I have so many irons in the fire, I’m going 100 miles per hour almost all day. And then I crash. Some days, that’s the time when my kids decide they want all of my attention, but my tank is running on empty. Believe me, sometimes even a well rested, mild-mannered soul would have their patience tested by these 3- and 7-year-old kids, but I know there are times when it’s just my tiredness taking over and not giving them the benefit of the doubt. I’m going to work on that.
Be more present. As I mentioned before, I typically have a lot of things going on at one time. To deal with it, I often multitask several things. While this can be good, sometimes it leads to me not being present in the moment and missing out on what is right in front of me. So this year, I’m going to try to compartmentalize.
Be more relaxed. Notice a trend here? I need to make a better effort to “tune out” every once in a while and truly recharge my batteries.
So here we are, guys. It’s 2022. Let’s make the most of the 525,600 minutes.