Tag: holidays Page 4 of 7

I am using a different kind of calendar than I am used to, in 2013. It is one where the first day of the week is Monday and the last is Sunday. Is this the European format? I do not know and after briefly Googling, still do not know, nor do I care.
The different format calendar may be a metaphor for how I will approach this New Year. How we want it to go, what our intentions are, how realistic our expectations may be—all the newness and excitement of things to come as of this day, Jan. 1, 2013, are represented to me, at least initially, by the new format calendar. I am starting out the New Year differently by changing how I view time and its passage.
The fiscal cliff is unfortunately the biggest distraction as we begin the New Year. They (you know who) will reach agreement to avert “disaster” and will pose for newly created photo opportunities with beaming faces and arms around each other like kids who say, “Look, Mommy, I vacuumed today! Can I have another biscuit? I am worth your adoration.”
Another thing that is distracting is soothsayers who predict more of the same bad stuff that occurred in 2012 but only worse, in 2013.
As many of you who spend some time here understand, I am a former Predictor and although I have been known to display my command of the obvious by making easy predictions, I am not going there regarding bad predictions for 2013; it is easy to say bad stuff will happen in 2013. Duh!
Fear mongers, I hear what you are trying to sell me, but I am not buying it. Actually, I am buying less overall, truth be told—partly out of necessity and also out of how I manage things like expenses these days. My perceptions of the world are not drawn from imagery and words mass media provide. The intelligent person culls information from a variety of sources, so as to understand the digital age is to acknowledge news reporting bias is everywhere.
Nothing (whether the media is portraying something they are outraged about) is ever as it seems. Again, the intelligent person gets this and reserves judgment until after all the facts are in.
So what happened when you woke up today?
Did you make mention of Jan. 1, 2013 out loud like I did?
I am probably pretty much against the grain of the majority in this country when I say I am fortunate enough to be growing more hopeful with the passage of time. Good intentions and hope create the seeds of positive change.
What are you doing and thinking of doing?
Do you intend to do good, bad or indifferent things with your life?
As I have been writing this I was thinking back to whether or not I had previously attempted to utilize the European (is that what it is?) format calendar. I may have, and if I did, it was a short-lived experiment.

I intend to get more mileage out of it this time. I will be teaching myself to look forward to Mondays a little more.
Yes, I admit when I was not in such good places in life I disliked Mondays like a lot of you.
I do not know if I can ever like Mondays completely or look forward to their arrival with consistent gusto.
But I intend to do a better job of rolling with them this year.
With my old calendars, Friday and Saturday were at the end of the week and Sunday, awkwardly enough, was at the beginning.
On my 2013 calendar Saturday and Sunday are at the end of the week. Monday is at the beginning; makes more sense and also makes the coming ones more palatable when you view them like this:
“Mondays are new beginnings.”
This New Year is already working for me.
Happy New Year!