End

31 December 2016

Here we are at the end of another year. I’ve seen a lot. More than some, fewer than others. It qualifies me to say this: to the mountains it’s utterly meaningless, to the trees and the squirrels it’s irrelevant, and to humans though arbitrary it can be a time for regrouping.

I see people saying it’s silly that dates chosen by another age to signify year-end and year-beginning have such significance. But this regrouping I mentioned is important; maybe even necessary. Sanity helps.

Everything we do is governed by our impressions of the world around us; family, friends, acquaintances, social media buddies, and the rest of the world. Though nothing we experience is totally random, chaos is a necessary component of life, provided we can guess what’s coming up next.

And then 2016 arrived. I’m not going to meander through a year-end list of stuff that’s been important to me, no. Looking back through my previous posts, I’m confident another reader will get some inkling of what it is to be me.

It’s not one I’ll look back on fondly, not by a long way. Usually I’m close to trembling with optimism at this point, resolutions tripping over themselves but not voiced lest I break them in humiliating fashion. But today, though I’m no longer scared of the year ahead, I’m resigned to the fact I’m not going to enjoy it.

It’s not that I’m fully immersed in the depressing, doom-laden frame of mind I anticipated six months ago; surprisingly I’m simply resigned to the fact that circumstances outside my control will have an impact on me.

The need to know what’s going on remains as strong as it did a year ago, and though I know I won’t be prepared for it, I’ll be ready for it.

This may make sense to no-one but me: I used to the word ‘cathartic’ in a question yesterday. Blogging is that for me, gives me a perspective that talking about stuff with others can’t bring.

Talking helps. A lot.

Ah… peculiar paradoxes.

So, what will we be talking about throughout 2017? How 2016 was comparatively benign‽