Where we all go

It's the beginning of a new year. A time to start over new, a time to leave behind the things we no longer wish to carry. I've always wondered though, Why is January 1 the first day of the year? There's no solar, lunar or other celestial importance of the day. I understand cultures that started their year on a solstice or equinox. As far as I know there is no historical reason to start the new year when we do. Oh well, I guess I should just take it to mean that we can start a new at any point. There's no need for some great sign to signal that it's time to start over. We can just pick a day and say, "This is the new first day."
It just so happens that we chose to do it in the middle of winter. I wish I had been there on they day that whatever council had met to decided that the new year should start in the middle of winter. I think I would have tried to push toward a date of more symbolic relevance. Oh well.
Another thing about new beginnings and New Year's Day in particular is that while it causes us to look forward, it also makes us look back, to consider all the things that we've done leading up to this point. It's hard to believe that one year ago today I was in Villa Esfuerzo, in the Dominican Republic. It was my second to last area in my mission.
So much has changed since then; I've changed so much in that time. And back then I thought that things would be so different than how they actually turned out. Life is strange like that.
I wonder how this year will turn out. What paths will I follow? Will there be anything big and exciting in my life this year, or will it pass only to be remembered as part of a larger piece of my life? The post-mission period.
I suppose I'm the only one that can determine that though. I am the captain of my future course and destiny.
I suppose that's why beginnings compel us to set goals, resolutions as it were. We all want to plot our own course. We know that things aren't going to work out exactly as we want them, but we set goals to help us do the best we can to stay on track.
I wish that I had time to put my goals here. To tell the world what I want to happen this year so that I can be held accountable for those goals, but unfortunately I have to leave for work in just a few minutes. I might add them on later though; we'll see.
I guess I'll just say that I'm glad that I have this chance to start anew.
It's said that we only have one chance in this life, and in part that's true, but we can always resolve to better starting at the point that we find ourselves, in the instant of that realization.
We all move forward, the past out of reach forever, unchangeable, but for that reason we all move forward, to write the map of our lives and show who we are by what we've done and where we've been.