2019: 365 new opportunities
I’ve seen the phrase/quote/cartoon: “What will 2019 bring us?” … “365 opportunities”. And a tagline attached: “You own your happiness”.
Part of me wants to say “Enough said !!!” We’ll see how much I have to say, though :).
For me, this is about both perspective and being aware of what I want and don’t want in my life. Naturally, not everything is controllable, but there is a lot that I can control … or maybe better words are that there a lot of things I am able to make a choice about.
I’ve made many choices about where I live, how I live, how I spend my time. There are consequences to all of those choices and for the most part, I’ve always been clear on what those are and accepted them. I am a glass half full person and even during challenging times, I tend toward the positive. Part of this is a lot of life experience in the good things that I’ve experienced during the difficult times.
It is almost a year since I let Bear go. Last Christmas and New Year’s … I knew his time was short and also that if not for my “work at home situation”, I might have had to make the decision earlier. But I had the luxury to wait until it was clear that his ratio of joy to discomfort was heavy on the discomfort side and it was time to let him go.
This Christmas, I had the joy of Emmett’s first Christmas combined with the antics of Auggie. My little Christmas tree hit the floor once and there was a second episode of Auggie batting some decorations TO Emmett or AT Emmett … not clear which, but they both seemed to be having a good time. Ultimately, all items were rescued with no damage.
Meanwhile, post-Christmas, as we approached the New Year … “365 Opportunities” started appearing. Additionally, a food blogger I follow, wrote a New Year’s post ending with: “So tell me … Did you learn how to cook anything new this year?” Well, YES!! So much fun to answer as well as read others’ responses.
My new cooking things: upping my sourdough game to include sweet things (donuts, sweet rolls). I made graham crackers for the first time. I continue to use the Instant Pot electric pressure cooker more and more: this year it was “layered” items (eggs and potatoes, rice and beans).
Thinking about what new things I learned to cook got me thinking about other new things I learned.
My work as a computer programmer absolutely requires constant learning. There are forever new problems to be solved in new ways and I LOVE that aspect of my work.
As I looked to Emmett’s arrival and knew I was going to teach and train with positive reinforcement/clicker training methods, I dove into books and YouTube and everything I could find to get prepared. I continue to learn more every day. For me, it is not only fun, but requires some agile thinking and planning to “try” to teach what I want him to learn vs accidentally teaching something I didn’t quite mean for him to learn. Fortunately, we all seem to have a sense of humor!
Photography. Hah! This kind of morphs with technology in general. And Smartphones.
I was a Blackberry user from the get go … the first kind of smart phone. The email push technology allowed me, as a consultant, to be available when I was not sitting in front of my computer.
And then, my first “touch” phone – an Android Thunderbolt.
A Windows Phone and although not the first phone with a camera, it was the start of using a phone as camera more often.
And in mid 2016 an iPhone. I bought the iPhone 6s Plus as a backup to my Windows Phone. I had abandoned a land line several years prior and then, as I was in my 60’s … thought that maybe I should have a back up option for emergencies. I decided to try the iPhone out of curiosity. Turns out, I LOVED it and it worked better with my Windows Computer than my Windows Phone.
Fast forward … an iPad replaced a Windows Tablet. I swapped the phone numbers for my Windows phone with my iPhone, making the iPhone my primary.
*****a bit of infomercial here. It is sometimes “popular” to vilify smart phones based on how some people use them. Any technological device is a just that … a device aka a tool. It is inherent on the owner of the tool to use that tool wisely. The tool is not responsible for irresponsible use by the tool’s owner. If “we” believe ourselves to be so weak and/or uneducated so as to use a tool badly, well… ***** and back to our regularly scheduled programming!
2018 Black Friday … I traded the 6S Plus for a XS Max AND a series 4 Apple Watch – LOTS of incentives – YEA! I was in the middle of a work “crisis” with no time to really “learn” either. But, the transition and setup went so well, it was not an issue: turn them on, access my wifi and let them set themselves up. There were a few times with the watch where I took a few minutes and “googled” a how to. But, by my Christmas “break”, I was pretty comfortable with both devices and considering I had only some background learning … good grief!
Part of my incentive to upgrade was the XS Max camera. I’d been using the 6S Plus and Instagram and LOVING the photos from the phone as well as the instant posting on Instagram. I loved the paradigm so much that my DSLR sat home a lot. The phone, albeit a largish phone, in my pocket vs the large camera … more and more photos from the phone. The XS Max … light years ahead, slightly larger screen in a slightly smaller unit and no regrets about the upgrade.
BUT, the primary point is … the learning of NEW things.
I love my grandmother Ruth (5/1910 – 11/1996). But as she aged, she often said “Not at this stage of the game”. It made me sad. I VOWED that I would NEVER say such a thing or stop being willing to learn and use new things.
Just this past week, I read an article about seniors and technology. I am 63. In most circumstances, I am considered “a senior”. Anyway, the article “spoke” about “seniors” having the $$ for devices as well as the benefit some of the devices have for seniors.
Well :)
The article detailed some benefits of the series 4 Apple Watch: ECG (1 lead EKG), Fall detection. Oh, yes! I have both set up and they were both part of my upgrade decision.
So.
Cheers to 2019.
Cheers to 365 opportunities to learn new things, to experience new Joy, to LIVE.