Look Forward, Not Back

It’s 2024. A new year. A time to remember … a time to look forward.

My social media feed is littered with “suggested for you” posts and memes talking about the good old days, when cars had big V-8 engines, women wore mini-skirts, and phones had rotary dials. Like many, I look back at these things with a bit of nostalgia. Unlike many, however, I don’t wallow in the past.

Trips down memory lane often take us to thoughts of simpler times, perhaps to our youth when it seemed like we had less problems. We don’t visit the dreadful places from our memories: the daily barrage of images on our TVs of the carnage in Vietnam, race struggles, the seemingly constant hijacking of aircraft in the Middle East, and gas station lines stretching for blocks. 

Despite the problems we have today, I appreciate all that technology and science have brought us. I’m not giving up my smartphone. My SUV gets twice the gas mileage my first car did and handles a lot better, too! I’m still free to make my own choices and focus on things that are important to me. In this new year, I’m focusing even more deeply on simplifying the things in my life that matter less, so that I can spend more quality time on the things I truly care about: my relationships, health and fitness, good food and drink, and, of course, travel. 

Step one includes paring down unnecessary items we’ve accumulated. The task is much easier since we are unpacking all the boxes that were stuffed with nearly half our belongings as we dealt with a flood in our home. The renovations are done and the boxes are almost completely emptied. At least one large box has been refilled with items to donate to a charity.

We’re already looking forward to at least two epic trips this year, and several smaller ones. I look back fondly at the trips we’ve made in the past, but I’m ever more excited about what’s to come.

There’s a whole world out there just waiting to be explored. Stay tuned, because 2024 will be a doozy!

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