How I wish to define the New Year - 2014

photo courtsey: sandeep banerjee aka smokey bandit

Today is the sixteenth day of January 2014. The first half of January has slipped by, but the year is still bright and brand new, like a coin all shiny and fresh from the mint. It’s crisp and crunchy, full of promise and resolutions, wrapped up in the golden haze of hope. Every New Year, every January, starts like this. With a bang and a bushel of happiness. With anticipation of what it’ll bring and a tiny hint of trepidation of what it may bring that we may not want. But as we hop on to the treadmill of the months, we learn to roll with it, we learn to cope with the patchwork of the days – some happy, some not so happy.

As I stand at the starting line of 2014, the month still glittering new, I wonder what this year will be about. I don’t have a list of resolutions tucked in my back pocket; I do not have confetti-laden visions of what I want this year to be about. I’m not on a high – alcohol-induced or otherwise – that the cusp of the New Year often gets people on to. I am for a change, neutral, a bit oblivious to all the hullabaloo that surrounds the beginning of the year. But like everyone, I hope for a good year. That kind of good that glows steadily but doesn't burnout. That kind of good that leaves you with a sense of contentment as you rest your head on the pillow at the end of the day. Good that’s not about leading your life on the crest of excitement but living each day with grace.

So this is what I pray for this year:

I hope to tread through each day of 2014 with patience and love because I have a 6-month old baby to bring up and these two traits go a long way in mothering an infant. 

I pray for endurance because motherhood is like running a marathon without a finishing line in the horizon. It’s all-consuming and you’re on duty 27/7. 

I wish for oodles of creativity, innovation and energy because that’s what it takes to nourish a little human being’s fast-growing mind.

A sense of grounding and balance is next on my wish list as I zoom through the days, working, managing a home, being a wife, friend and mother. 

I pray for stimulation – good books and movies, engaging conversation. I wish for work that’s engaging and interesting.

I hope for health – for all of us. For days that are filled with hope and goodness.

How do you wish to define 2014?