Something new
Like a magician, I pulled out from my bag of tricks something new for the New Year. It’s a trick I learned from a bridal rhyme that acts as a bride’s stylist. It tells the bride how she should look on her wedding day and what accents to wear.
“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue,” is a line from an old couplet. According to my friend Rosse G., something old symbolizes continuity; something new expresses hope for the future; something borrowed stands for happiness; and something blue refers to love, purity and fidelity.
At the start of another year, people promise themselves to be better than they were the year before, making a list of things to do, but mid-year they find themselves back to square one.
This year, I thought of another way around this yearly ritual of making promises. I borrowed from the wedding rhyme’s “something new” as guide. The good thing about this project is it frees you from guilt because it allows you to go on with your life while adding a new element into it. Here’s what I think. New Look (NL). You have the whole year to do this. Have a new look, whether it’s in the way you wear your hair or the way you dress or your choice of footwear and accessories. Try something you have not done before; be bold. This one is from experience. Ten years ago, I revamped my wardrobe by casting off my baggy t-shirts, and replacing them with blouses and brighter colors. I also sported a new hairstyle, short and sassy.
New Priorities (NP). What takes up most of your time? Are you addicted to video games? It sounds all too familiar. I do play video games on my smart phone. I have downloaded a couple of game apps that I have not allowed to eat up all my time. Have time for real life.
Priorities can include your family, career and significant other, but do insert something new to your menu of things to do. It can be adding exercise, eating more healthy food aside from the usual diet you have, or giving yourself time to relax.
New Inner Self (NIS). There’s so much noise around the world, we can hardly hear our inner self. God speaks in a still, small voice and it’s hard hearing him if there’s too much thunder, lightning and shouting in your life.
Set aside time to get in touch with the Creator; it’s not much that I am suggesting; all you need to get started is five minutes a day of being alone, in prayer or reading something like Our Daily Bread. New Attitude (NA). Though the acronym sounds like “not applicable,” this is applicable. A new attitude can be how you react to a grouchy parther or to bad health.
I don’t want to get too personal, but I have been there and survived the onslaught of bad health. I handled every issue with humor and faith that God will always be there for me.
As for marriage—no marriage is perfect and when that imperfection shows its ugly head daily, there are two things you can do: Fight back or do something new. Permit yourself to get out of the war zone without firing back. Don’t argue with an angry person because both of you will end up casualties of an undeclared war. Unless the issue is legitimate or important, it’s better to bow out with grace.