Looking Forward and Backward

We just passed through the shortest day and longest night of the year.

Daylight brings security and understanding, which seems appropriate since all three have been in short supply lately.

The dark of the night keeps us from seeing yet offers us enforced quiet time to reflect on the past four seasons and look forward to the next four.

Having the time to see, yet with no vision is Nature’s humor on display.

The dark of the night shares some sympathy once in a while, though.

As I step out into the crisp, -21 degree darkness, the glow of the moon casts shadows across the glittering snow.

I can see the bumpers of my trucks, ruts in the road, rocks in my path, shadows of trees and buildings – landmarks of obstacles in my path, both literal and symbolic.

Like my grandmother, I’m better at looking forward.

I know little of my family history from her because she never wanted to miss out on what was next.

Only once did I get her to share stories of her adventures when she was young.

I won’t spill her beans, but I will say I understand why she didn’t want to miss what was coming next.

I treasure those stories and how they give me context for her life.

So I force myself to review my past year.

I stretched – learned a little about how to direct an employee, experimented with new land management ideas, and improved how I care for my livestock.

I also fell back on comfortable old habits that led to mistakes.

The heat and dry weather signaled the need to sell some livestock before I put that plan in action.

My grass paid the price.

It will recover next spring and I won’t forget that lesson.

Yet some of those comfortable old habits serve me well.

Learning about new ideas keeps me analyzing, critiquing and developing experiments to see if those ideas work for me.

Writing goals and the steps to reach them keep my head from spinning as I try to remember the tasks that need to be done right now. And tomorrow. And the tomorrow after that.

Those lists help me weed out the jobs I don’t need and cultivate the jobs I like.

Goals are supposed to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-sensitive. That way, a person knows when she has reached her goal.

But this year, my goals are not measurable.

The time-management and financial gurus will cringe at that statement.

Ignore them for a moment.

Instead, consider how our world could be a better place, how our society could function better if each of us set these goals for 2022:

Today is the day to toss aside fear to embrace courage;

Toss aside lies to embrace truth;

Toss aside selfishness to embrace goodwill;

Toss aside me to embrace us;

Toss aside guilt to embrace grace;

Toss aside despair to embrace hope;

Toss aside war to embrace peace;

Toss aside hate to embrace love.

For today.

And tomorrow.

And then every tomorrow after that.

This list isn’t novel.

These concepts are not untested.

They only denote which choice to make each and every moment.

The time-management and financial gurus will be happy to know that each of us can use this list to write down and complete specific, measurable, achievable and relevant goals.

After all, it’s good to stretch toward better choices, but I don’t have to toss out the old, good habits.  

And just maybe, by embracing these choices, I will create memories that would make my grandmother want to see what will come next.