Happy New Year!

That's what they say, everywhere you go. Rejoice, for the new year is nigh, full of promise; promise for a better tomorrow, promise for the future.

What about the year we've just experienced? Is it the fate of the coming year that in twelve short months we'll cast it aside, ditch it at the party and avoid eye contact, all the while trying to hit on 2002?

The year 2000 meant a lot to me. Maybe not exceptionally more than any other year, but a lot of stuff happened, some good, some bad, but most to be cherished for what it meant. Not to go into 'christmas letter' mode, but rejoining Berkeley last January to finish my degree, finally realizing my longtime plans to document my life as I go, and bring as many of my online ideas to light as possible, keeping old friends, finding new ones, seeing some join in marriage, it all means a lot.

Christmas and Thansgiving tend to celebrate the family, and New Years celebrates that which is to come, but when do we take the time to not only reflect on the past year, but to embrace and cherish it? When the new year comes, we don't throw out the old, we fold the experiences into ourselves, as we do every day. When we learn a new skill, we process it into long term memory as we sleep, consolidating the experiences of the day into a permanent format, but when do we do the same for the year in review?

"Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it" and a dozen other parables exist to remind us that we'd best learn from our successes and our failures, to make a successful future, yet the New Years spirit is one of predestination. "What will the new year bring?" "Will the new year be good to me?" These all turn away from the idea that we make our own year, and to make the best year we can, we should look to the past year for insights.

New Years resolutions are a start, but usually a misguided one. Resolutions are made to be broken, and we go around on the first asking what people's resolutions are, and on the fifteenth we ask which ones our friends have kept (usually few or none of them). What's the alternative? Don't look at your biggest problems and apply easy-to-make, hard-to-keep promises to yourself. Look at what's given you the greatest joy over the last year, and what you can do to perpetuate it. If you have problems you'd like to improve in the coming year, chances are they're the same problems you had last year. Did you make a resolution to fix it last year? If it didn't work, why should it be different this time around?

Basically what I'm saying is that, at least to me, most New Years tend to be the same. They're full of promise, a little self flagellation for thing I'd like to fix, breakfast with friends, then off filled with promise and good cheer, but little actual difference. This year I'm looking at what worked: The refound dedication to the principles of learning which brought me a 3.9 gpa in the spring, where years of working for grades did far worse. The premise that the journey is its own reward, and writing daily in a weblog makes me a happier person, even if nobody were to read it. That trying silly things rarely results in disappointment and can lead to so much more (AOLiza). I'm also looking to the things that didn't work: Promises I make for what I'll do tomorrow never get done because tomorrow's always a day away (Cameo). Looking forward to something so much, and being afraid of beling let down can make me hesitant to try, worsening my situation (grad school apps), and personal fears of change can lead me to cling too tightly to existing frineds so that I daren't venture out to make new ones, unless it's through a different channel (like survivorblog).

These are all things I've ostensibly learned in the last year, but didn't actually process until I actually went through the process of examining the last year. As I think about it more, I'm sure I'll find more things, and I'll incorporate what I learn from them into my own coming year.

Well, I've gone on for long enough. I hope I've provoked even one other person into thought, and sparked someone to think of the new year not simply as a great gift, but a blank canvas on which to improve on the finished work we're just now setting aside. We're all drivers, not passengers, and we'll have a much better chance of finding ourselves at a better place this time next year if we plan our destination, instead of just hopping on the bus.

Thanks, Happy New Year, and I'll get off my soapbox now. See you next year!!