Year With a View

There is a delicious view this time of year.  

It’s the view of another upcoming year.  We’re basically all right here and before us is the entire year ahead of us.

Of course, there are other marvelous views later in the year such as the beginning of summer, then later again a backward view at the end of summer, but this is the most delicious view of the entire year.  Lately, when I arrive at this view each new year, I find myself returning to some powerful views from my youth.  Somewhere along the way before I can even take that very first step into another new year, I revisit these vantage points from my past.

The first view was a gift from reading something.

It seems strange now as I read everything and everyone but there was a time, I was not a big fan of reading.  I was impatient, there were all those reading exercises in school, and I would rather be outside.

I had not bumped into stories that truly sparked my imagination until as a young teenager I discovered science fiction stories.  The race was on!  I was always reading science fiction, I joined a science fiction book club, and soon found a favorite writer named Arthur C. Clark.  He was the champion of ending a story.  He would innocently provide details, thoughts, slow plot developments but before you were ready for the story to end, it just ended, and he would leave you thinking about what you had just read.

One of my favorite short stories of his is called A Brief Walk in the Dark which was originally published in August 1950.

I won’t give away the ending but basically, it’s a story of an astronaut who has driven away from a home base and his vehicle breaks down. His only choice to survive is to walk back to the base. He can see the base in the distance but there are hills and gullies in his way to return home. He walks down one hill then walks up another hill.  When he reaches the top of the next hill, he can see his home base again a little closer, but he has to venture into another gully before he can return to the top of the next hill.  At some point past stories of a hidden beast in the gullies enters our astronaut’s thoughts during his walk…

Ever since reading that story, I find myself thinking of any future as a series of hills and gullies.  The hills provide sunshine and orientation while the gullies could contain random monsters, fear, apprehension but the gullies also contain new accomplishments, increasing confidence, and success.

So now when viewing a new year before me that home base in the story represents my goals and potential rewards while the gullies are all the work of new negotiations, product launches, trainings, paperwork, deadlines, and more.

The second view from my youth was a gift from being at the right place at the right time.

I was a lucky lad in college and for a while I worked at the Grand Canyon for one summer where I witnessed many sunsets over the canyon.

One evening there was such intensity as I stood at the rim of the canyon facing the sun as it set.  The updrafts from the canyon blew into my face and pushed back my hair.  Hawks nearby where slowly drifting through the updrafts and in front of the setting sun, backlit thunderclouds released both rain and lightning bolts on the other side of the canyon.  It all felt like I was a movie star in a Hollywood movie.

These are the views I use whenever I view a new year in front of me.  I imagine you have your own views for guidance.  As I face each new year, I enjoy reliving that breezy feeling of that one sunset at the Grand Canyon as I watched the intoxicating landscape in front of me.  Seeing a new year in front of us can be equally intoxicating.  What makes the view of another new year in front of us so delicious is that we’re all on top of a hill together and each one of us is a movie star in our own Hollywood movie.

We’ll each make progress this year.  

Enjoy this delicious year with a view moment just a little bit more before making those first few steps into 2023.  Do it all this year.  Sidestep the apprehension in the gullies, be efficient there, then enjoy those other views of progress on the hilltops.

Like a fleeting sunset our delicious view of an upcoming year doesn’t last long – we’re already hip deep into January.  It’s time now to bust the first move and jump into another adventurous new year!

Cowabunga!