Out with the old, in with the new, may you be happy the whole year through! All the editorial team at iDB joins me to wish you a happy new year. May this year bring you health, wealth, love, happiness and everything in between.
Now that we’ve got the wishes out of the way, I’d like to talk to you about something that I feel is pretty important, especially as we enter a new year.
When I was a kid, my parents used to tell me to savor every moment of my life, because life itself goes by so quickly. Of course when you’re 12, you don’t put too much thoughts into what your parents tell you. You know better than that. When I was 12, I couldn’t wait to be 14 so I could meet the legal age to ride a moped. When I was 14, I couldn’t wait to be 16 to go to high school. When I was 16, I couldn’t wait to be 18 so I could be old enough to drive a car.
This pattern went on until I got married and had kids. All the sudden, I didn’t want to live in the future anymore. I just wanted to live in the present and enjoy my kids, while reminiscing about the good old days. You know you’re old when you start being nostalgic.
Admittedly, I don’t spend nearly as much time with my kids as I should. Running a blog like iDB is more time consuming than you could ever imagine, and it seems that the eve of a new year is always the moment when I realize I could have done more with my life during the 364 days that just flew by. Was it worth it? Would have staying away from my computer as soon as my family gets home every day had a negative impact on iDB? Maybe. Would have it been dramatic? Probably not, in the grand scheme of things.
Enjoy every moment. Seize the day. This is my message to you for 2015.
Put your iPhone down for a minute and lift your head up. Look around and be present. Be in the moment with the people around you. What’s happening on Twitter can wait because you can always scroll back through your timeline, but you can’t scroll back in time through your life. What’s happening now will never happen again, and hip photo filters will never do justice to the actual sliver of time you just posted on Instagram.
This is of course easier said than done. I am guilty of it too, maybe even more so than most people. But the advantage I have is to be aware of it. I can change. We can all change. We can all make a conscious effort to unplug from our overly connected lives every once in a while, and be more present for the ones we love.
You can have a million Twitter followers, but you can only have a limited amount of real friends and family members. Be there for them because they are the ones who need you the most.
In 2015, I will be more present for my family. I will be more attentive to my wife and more available for my two amazing children. Any other resolution should only come second to that.
What will you do in 2015?