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For many of us, first proper day back at work tomorrow – the party being over.
It occurred to me as a jogged through a frosty Dunham Massey Country Park this morning, that we have a choice as to how we see the responsibilities that will return when we next wake for the year ahead.
There have been many times in my life where “first day back” has seemed as if I was standing at the bottom of a rock face, daunted by the challenge of having to do it all over again, perhaps aiming at a higher summit, carrying heavier equipment, wondering if I will have the physicality and the nerve to make it to the top.
My sleep the night before has been restless, my mind full of stuff.
On fewer occasions, I’ve been excited by the prospect of the new year, seeing it as more of a launch from a safe harbour into ocean currents, ready to follow a planned course that will ride the wind and waves to a new horizon.
I see myself starting 2017 in the second mode:
There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures. Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218–224
Brutus may not have ultimately succeeded in his own quests but we can all learn from his sentiment, so eloquently summarised by The Bard.
I’m ready to set sail on a full sea – join me!