A change is going to come...

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies. - Anonymous

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First day of the New Year today and first day of work tomorrow. How exciting is that?

Am I looking forward to it? You’ve got to be kidding me right? But most often, I like to think about such things by looking at insights by people who have lived longer and often, wiser lives than I have.

As Samuel Johnson once said, “we love to expect, and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified, we want to be again expecting.” This is true in a way that anticipation means there’s something to look forward to; it means there is hope. Hope gives us the chance to believe in the possibility of a positive outcome. It makes us, or gives us the strength to go forward.

But of course, oftentimes, we are afraid of the change that is to come. It’s only human to have fear. As I heard it said once on TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy”, “fear means we have something to lose”. Only those who are fortunate have the chance to fear. Try to see things in the positive; if you can fear death, it means you are still alive! After all, the great suspense author, Alfred Hitchcock also said, “There is no terror in a bang; only in the anticipation of it.” I can say from experience, very often, we are so puzzled by the ultimate fizzle, we end up wondering and laughing at ourselves for having been so nervous in the beginning, wondering what all the fuss was for and about!

So if you know you are one of those whose anticipation turns into anxiety, just remember that “perpetual anticipation is good for the soul but it's bad for the heart” (Stephen Sondheim; composer and lyricist). But remember, don’t be one of those people who just get excited for the excitement. Grasp and live every moment fortune grants you. Do not waste opportunities “anticipat[ing] what's to come [and] ignore what's actually here (Stephan Rechtschaffen; M.D., pioneer in the wellness movement; founder of the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies).

So has all that allayed my nervous energy about tomorrow? Well, no. But at least, for now, I’ve put things in perspective. At least for myself, for now.