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COLUMN: No matter what 2023 brings, let’s choose to ‘seize the day’

Following the first three years of the 2020s, people are now hesitant to make presumptions about the new year being their “year,” and are instead choosing to wait and see what 2023 will bring, myself included.

It’s official – it's 2023 y’all. It’s also the season of New Year’s resolutions, rising gym memberships, and smarmy social media posts.

Every new year, one inevitably opens social media to find a slew of posts claiming the next trip around the sun will be the best one yet, or a reflective photo caption posted on New Year’s Eve after a few too many glasses of bubbly, claiming, “this year will be my year.”

Suffice it to say, I don’t think 2020, 2021, or 2022 was anybody’s “year,” though I remain cautiously optimistic for 2023. The last three years brought with them a worldwide pandemic and the onset of public health restrictions that lasted until early 2022. The political divide already entrenched in our society was made worse by differing opinions regarding masking and vaccination mandates.

We also saw a major escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian War in early 2022, which is believed to be a factor in a recent wave of economic woes that hit North American shores, bringing with it sky-high inflation and rising costs of food, gas, and other goods.

Many struggled to get by this year and faced increased rent or mortgage payments. I spoke with a gentleman on the phone this winter who was, as a result of some personal struggles, facing the affordable housing crisis head-on.

While these are just some of the challenges that took place over the last few years, many are also dealing with challenges in their personal lives, whether it be relationship troubles, health problems, the loss of a loved one, or something else entirely.

It seems, these days, everyone is struggling in some way or another, whether they admit it or not.

Following the first three years of the 2020s, people are now hesitant to make presumptions about the new year being their “year,” and are instead choosing to wait and see what 2023 will bring, myself included.

Though I am certainly guilty of publishing one of those previously mentioned bubbly-induced social media posts at the turn of the last decade, I have in recent years held back from making such extreme claims about the nature of the next calendar year.

Nonetheless, I am a firm believer that life is what you make it. No matter what is going on in the world around you, there is still an opportunity to rise above your circumstances and make the most out of every new day.

My Grade 12 English teacher – a characterful man that left an impact on each of his students – taught our class the meaning of the Latin phrase “Carpe Diem" after a showing of the film Dead Poets Society.

To me, that phrase rings truer now than it did 10 years ago. No matter what 2023 brings our way, we can still choose to “seize the day.”

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