It’s early 2024, the new year before us like a blank page ready to be explored.
What is going to define the new year for you?
Is it going to be the year you learn something new?
Is it going to be the year you examine the world in your own backyard? Or, is it going to be the year you withdraw and focus on yourself?
A new year brings with it a clean slate, 365 new paths to explore and adventures to have.
Personally, I have some goals I want to accomplish in 20024, but I am not setting any New Year’s resolutions. To me, a New Year’s resolution is just an opportunity to set yourself up for failure — while setting intentions and goals can be a healthier way of setting sustainable achievements.
As I mentioned in my previous column, the biggest thing is to start small. You don’t need to make a monumental shift in your life to make a change. A bunch of small changes work out to one great big one.
I do find the new year a good time to take inventory of my goals, though.
For 2024, I want to keep doing the best job I can with the three papers I am responsible for. I want to keep building trust in the community and make the Bashaw Star, the Castor Advance, and the Stettler Independent the first choice for news in their respective communities.
To accomplish those goals, I am going to continue jumping into any, and all staff training that I can get my hands on, broadening my knowledge base and experience as much as I can. I am officially one-quarter of the way through my university education, so I plan to keep knocking those courses off as well.
I plan to keep pushing myself with my photography and videography as well.
The bottom line is this: my goal is to continually move forward. Remaining at the status quo is not an option.
I’ve always considered movement to be going one of two ways: if you are not going forward, you are going backwards.
With the mental health struggles I have had over the years, I have spent enough time going backwards.
The trick I have found in my recovery over the past several years is similar to that of trying to navigate a vehicle through mud; as long as you are moving, you will continue to make forward progress but if you stall, you will get bogged down and lose your ability to get going again.
A new year offers 365 new paths to adventure and 365 new paths to move forward.
Which paths are you going to go down?
- Kevin Sabo is a multimedia editor of the Castor Advance, Stettler Independent, and the Bashaw Star.