Dear September,
In the spirit of Christmas, this is
the one where I tell you to make merry because this is the one time in the year
where all is calm and all is bright. This time of the year is like an extended
version of the part of the day, early in the morning, where the sun has risen
but you haven’t quite started the day. The environment is calm and the possibilities
are endless and I feel as though this time should be recognized and appreciated
and taken full advantage of.
It is about a
week to the end of the year, so if you are a student, you are done with finals
and if you work, you are just about to leave for the break, if you haven’t
already. It is the perfect time to wind down and consciously reflect on the
past year. Remember all the mistakes you have made and all the things you could
have done better. This is not a time for regret or self-deprecation, it is also
not a time to wallow in self-pity or make excuses. It is a time to recognize
your faults, forgive yourself for them and move on.
There is a reason why it is the most
wonderful time of the year. There is a magic in the air this time of year that
you can’t quite place. I cannot think of a better time to dream without
inhibition and be truthful about what you want for yourself in the coming year.
It is a time where it is socially acceptable to float on a cloud. If you cannot
dream and see the future you really want, at a time like this, then it will be even
more difficult to dream when life begins to get in the way. This is not a time
to be rational, and set goals based on what you have or what you think you can
actually achieve.
If you are like me, just before you
start your day, you feel hopeful, you write a to-do list the length of your
left arm and are honestly convinced in that moment that you will check
everything off by the end of the day. More times than not, you do not check
everything off the list but that’s alright. You see, the magic is not in
checking things off, it is in the way you feel while you are writing the list.
You feel hopeful and optimistic and void of self-doubt. For a moment, you
forget your flaws and the flaws of the world that we live in and you are
wide-eyed and excited for the future. Writing goals and dreams and to-do lists
is essentially writing the future that you envision for yourself and if that
doesn’t make you unbelievably happy, tear off the page and start again. In the
words of President Barack Obama “If we do not have hope, then what do we have.”
You see this is not about being perfect and void of blemish, because perfection
is an illusion, it is about believing, even if it is just for a moment, that you
are beautiful and capable of perfection and full of magic.
So,
September, I think that this is a story of hope and a reminder that knowing
that you may not accomplish every single thing you want to, is not reason
enough to stop dreaming.
Courage is making the decision to
embark on a journey and endure a course of action, while being completely aware
of the potential difficulties and obstacles that you will encounter on the way.
A good example of this would be quitting your day job to focus on your dreams
and what you are truly passionate about. Now, do not misquote or misunderstand
me, this is not to say that everyone who quits their day job to focus on their
passion project full-time is wise and courageous. It only counts as courage
when this is a risk and a well-thought out idea at the same time. In the sense
that, investing time and effort into a passion project can make a person happy
but not all passion projects are worth giving up what you currently have for.
You
cannot quit your day job if your passion project cannot replace it as a form of
income or at the very least have the potential to in the short run. Potential
is great and cool and amazing but it is not everything. With a passion project,
the risk should be the duration of time it will take for it to start paying for
itself and not if it will in the first place. Part of courage is wisdom and
discernment. The hope in courage is that you choose to believe in yourself and your
art, and you open yourself to starting all over again if things don’t pan out
the way you want them to.
No matter who
you are, there are always resources available to you, you just have to be
willing to open your eyes and look around. I’ll use myself as an example, you
know, … because I never do that… So, as you know, I am currently in my fourth
and final year at the University of Toronto and if I have learned anything, it
is to ask for as much help as possible. Whether it is from the professor, when I
am totally drowning in a topic or just going to the writing centre to have an
extra set of eyes look over my paper. A little help can make all the difference
in the world. Asking for help portrays an inherent desire to be a better
version of yourself and a hope that you can become this person that you aspire
to be. When you decide to put your pride and ego and maybe even push through
some fear, you will be surprised at how many people can be as committed to your
success as you are.
Perspective
is everything September, it literally is. The calmness that comes with this
time of the year is golden and very relevant to gaining and maintaining a good
perspective. If you are like me and you always have a list of goals every
January so long, that you feel defeated before you even begin, you do not need
to change the list, you need to change your attitude. Rather than accepting
defeat and becoming overwhelmed, take the challenge head on. Rather than focus
on all the time and effort accomplishing your list will take, focus on tackling
the flaws that could become obstacles, like a procrastination habit or bad company.
Hope
is inherently about perspective. In the world we live in today, where Donald
Trump is the leader of the free world, it becomes your responsibility to work
to keep hope alive for yourself and for others as well. Choosing to be hopeful
is not a lack of wisdom or a character flaw. Choosing to be hopeful is not
ignoring the negatives of a situation, it is acknowledging them while also focusing
on the positives and believing that you are capable of turning the negatives to
positives and finding the silver lining. So, remember September, all is calm
and all is bright, so find your own version of hope and hold on to it for dear
life.
