It’s that time of year again.
It’s the day we celebrate the start of a new beginning. We make New Year’s Resolutions to set goals for ourselves. Last year, my goal was to write four novels, which I did. They’re possible to achieve if we work hard at them, to stay dedicated and persistent.
It’s also that time of year where we begin to look back at how much has happened. All of us are going through something. All of us need hope for a better tomorrow.
In my short story, Just a Machine, Lowell heads out to his car after a long day at the office. The only problem is, his car won’t start. But with the new app that he’s been working on, it could communicate with machines. Maybe he could use it to get his car to tell him what’s wrong with it . . .
When we choose goals, they can either be long term or short term. Goals can be divided into weeks, months, or years. An example of a long term goal is paying something off over several years, such as a car. A monthly goal can be saving up a certain amount of money. A weekly goal can be finishing up a book that we’re at the end of.
Our goals depend on the life we want to live. Because goals lead us to achievements, we choose goals based on where we want to be in life. We choose them because they are of benefit to us. We see the destination as a place that will improve our life, whether that means advancing our career, completing a project, or paying off debt.
Goals vary from person to person because all of us are at a different place in life. They must be realistic and attainable. They must be something that we can take steps toward achieving. If we want to be in a better place, we have to think about our goals carefully, for the goals we choose will shape the course of our life.
In my short story, Delivery, a man is on his way to visit his grandfather on Christmas Day. But on this occasion, he learns more about him than he thought he’d ever expect. Read to discover what he finds out.
The day when we come together for peace, rest, and tranquility. The day we seek comfort for our souls, the day when we fully express the charity of our hearts. The day we wish everyone peace and happiness–especially in our prayers and thoughts.
There’s so much going on that we usually get wrapped up in our plans or are to-do list. But we also must reflect on the year: what we’ve accomplished, what we can learn from it.
Christmas Eve is a time for reflection, a time for prayer. During this holiday season, I wish peace for everyone, and that they find solace and happiness with the ones they’re with.
Quick thinking occurs when we respond to a situation with an immediate solution. It’s as if we’ve rehearsed the scenario, or know what to expect when something happens.
But quick thinking doesn’t depend on wit so much as it does on knowledge. When we’re faced with a problem, we must have an inventory of resources or facts at our disposal. When we run into a problem with a car, for example, we must have some knowledge of the things that can go wrong with it, as well as the ways to fix it. In other words, we must be able to troubleshoot the situation based on what we know.
This could be applied to anything, whether it is computers, fixing things up around the house, etc. If we don’t have the knowledge or experience to quickly solve the situation, then it will take trial and error, which could last for minutes or hours. Being able to think quickly requires some skill and experience. Once we have faced a trial or a difficulty, we know how to better deal with it the second time around.
When things get stressful, we feel overwhelmed. It feels like everything is falling apart around us–as if the world might come to an end. Stress can be caused by deadlines, chaotic situations, tense or awkward moments, and the oh so common to-do list, which never seems to end.
I remember working as a cashier at a clothing store during the Christmas season and getting stressed out by how long the lines got. The more customers that came into the store, the more stressed I became. And this was at a time before cellphones were in use. This was in the 90s.
During one of these long line days, a customer had asked me if a certain item was in stock. Seems simple enough, but the process was tedious. First, I had to scan the item, then I had to call the nearest store to see if they had it in stock (there wasn’t a computer there where I could browse the online inventory). Today, a sales clerk can search the inventory online with just a few clicks–taking a fraction of the time. In my case, I had to call one store after the next.
And whenever a customer decided to make a purchase with a check, I remember how it held up the line, since the customer had to first write the check, then it had to be fed into the register, etc.
As I waited, I would glance back at the costumers in lines and see the impatience and frustration showing on their faces. It wasn’t like they could occupy themselves on their phones (since iPhones and the like hadn’t been invented yet). They just stood there waiting while with an armful of clothes.
As the workday progressed into the evening, the stress got worse. By the time the store closed. there would be piles of clothes everywhere that had been shuffled around like laundry. This was during the holiday season, mind you. A time when everyone should be happy–enjoying the Christmas season.
We’re all going through something whether or not we express it or exhibit it outwardly. We do our best to not make the situation worse, to not escalate it into something it needn’t be. We put on a smile so as to not make it unbearable or awkward for others. Just like when I was a cashier going through the stress of long lines, I kept my calm, didn’t let panic get the best of me, although that’s how it felt within me.
So during this holiday season, which can be very stressful, let’s be patient, understanding, empathetic, and kind to one another. It can make a world of difference to someone.
There are times when we go through tribulations that we can’t understand. No matter how much brainpower we use to make sense of it, the answer, or meaning behind it, remains elusive–even mysterious.
It’s as if the event was spontaneous and irrational–beyond our means of comprehension. There was no reason for it, no purpose behind it. We look at all the ways it could’ve been avoided or deterred. After analyzing the multitude of possibilities, we conclude that the probability of what happened was so slim that we wonder how (or why) it happened in the first place.
It’s one of those things we can’t understand–won’t understand–because it makes no logical sense. Yet things like that happen in life, things that puzzle us, cause uneasiness down to our bones.
We wrestle with making sense of the mysterious to put our minds at ease, yet there’s something about it that evades our understanding of reality. Simply put, there are some things we just don’t understand, or maybe we’re not meant to.
When I wrote this title, I was thinking about the past–particularly when we settle into the norms of our lives. Once we have established routines, we believe that things will always be the way they are, that nothing will change.
If we have a routine of waking up or going to bed a certain hour, or a route we regularly take to work, we hold them as constants. We don’t think deeply about variations once we’ve become accustomed to doing things a certain way. We don’t think far enough into the possibility that the roads might change, or that the times we wake up or go to bed will have to be adjusted.
Even with regard to the friends and people in our lives, we believe that they will always be in our lives. But as time passes, we notice that people move, change jobs, or simply get busy with social engagements or their careers. Each month or year is lived like a chapter–a period in which habits and choices are readjusted frequently to meet the newest circumstance.
So many factors come into play that affect our decisions, which can uproot our lives from the foundation with which we established. Life is unpredictable. Perhaps our belief that things will “always be that way” is just an adaptation to the current environment, a way of adjusting to the newness that befalls us at each stage in life.
In some ways, I wish things can “always be that way.” The great memories I had, the adventures I took, the places I traveled to–sometimes I dive into those memories to relive them, to feel what they were like. It’s as if I didn’t want things to change, or maybe its indicative that I didn’t want to let go of them.
2020 turned the world upside down. 2019 felt like a utopia compared to the unexpected doom and gloom and isolation that befell us. I spent many nights reflecting about the past, the people I got to spend time with, the places I got to travel to, and wished that things could always be that way.
It’s hard to let go of the past, but maybe we’re not supposed to let go of it. Maybe we’re just supposed to make peace with it. 2019 was such a happy year for me. 2020 was just the opposite. I hope 2021 brings something positive change for all of us.
Fallton Havenstonne 