NEW YEAR, NEW START

Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.

Will Rogers

                It is hard to believe another year is ready to be wrapped up and set aside to make place for a new year. So much has happened in 2016. Some good, some not so good. Some welcomed, some regretted. Some uplifting, some discouraging. But all have impacted our lives in some form or another.

                As I look ahead at 2017, I have resolved not to look back at this year’s struggles and defeats. I choose to leave behind the disappointments and start the new year with a clean slate. I need space for fresh ideas, realistic goals and even dreams that may or may not come to pass. I have resolved not live in a world of “what ifs..,” but in a world of “I will….”

                I like to think of autism as a maze. A very complicated maze. You think you are making progress, only to discover you’ve come up against another wall and need to backtrack. Sometimes you lose something in the process, other times you gain greater insight into the pattern of the maze which can make you wiser and stronger. Every struggle, every false path, every disappointment is simply another step towards finding the track that will eventually set you on the right course.

                I love Thomas Edison’s attitude when he struggled to create the lightbulb. “I have not failed,” he said, “I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Eventually, he did find the right one and it led to something most of us couldn’t imagine living without.

                Just as a runner doesn’t look behind him but keeps his gaze forward, pressing on towards the prize, so should we keep moving onward. A new year, a new start. New opportunities and experiences lay ahead of us. Some we’ll enjoy, others not so much. But either way, they will form us and build our character, if we let them.

                What’s your lightbulb?