Yeahyeah, IknowIknow- it’s over, look who decided to say something … Hello, it’s already January 6, according to the contemporainean etiquette, from this day on you may not wish anyone anymore a happy New Year with capital letters … can we be done with it?

Sorry! No. On the last day of December some interesting thoughts fell upon me. Not only that I had to go to the bakery, because of course the next day there there would be absolutely nothing open at all, not even the most gruesome indifferent supermarket chain, but something else came to mind.

May I still pass them to you?

I come from a warm family, the cornerstone of society, well, you may say that I have crawled from under that corner stone. Long ago. That was in the days when nobody was having a divorce, all the children always said “Yes sir!” and “Yes ma’am!”, and on New Year’s Eve there were “Oliebollen”.

With or without apple – deep fried fat dough with raisins and a crust

You already understand: I’m not a fan. Never been. But that’s not what this is about.

At that time, on New Year’s Eve you looked back … hours, days, months, years … flying by like a shadow.

.

My parents were Christians, also not unusual at that time. De-church-ification was not yet in the dictionary. Now it was a good God they believed in, so that makes a difference. It was not that revengeful creep that you often encounter. That God, who – because he loves you so much – gives you all kinds of horrible tests, and if you don’t watch out, he’ll send you to hell, because you have not made the right decisions.

Speaking of freedom of expression!

I suspect that this God is a triplet together with Allah and Jehovah. All three quite an unstable temperament, and whether they have a good character … well, this is going all too far for a blog from a holiday home rental village, so let’s skip this and go on about what I really wanted to write.

Previously, you looked back at how you had been that year, how you had behaved (emphasis on the falling short of it), how it had gone (not so good), and how you could improve yourself. On that basis you made tough decisions. That was serious business, and the good God was also involved. He sat with tears in his eyes in heaven about your misbehavior, but waited – good-natured as he is – for you to come to understand.

The difference with previously and now is that we’re only looking ahead

What are we going to cause in the new year?

That whole retrospective moment is no longer there. And the good God can wait for all eternity, because we love ourselves nowadays, we think we’re worth it, we’re assertive down to our toes, and we no longer dwell on “previously”.

The future, that’s what it’s about.

We think of great things ahead for us

We will loose .. kilos (do you see there are 2 dots?), we will be eating healthier, we will exercise (these things come together mostly), and the entrepreneurs among us work more focused. (There’s much more, but of course I am particularly interested in the latter.)

We are going to get a turnover of ….. comma dash euros (do you see that there are five dots?)

I am already tired, only by thinking of it. Sure, I ‘d love a turnover of five dots, but you have to do so much for that! This all comes at the expense of nice things – like chatting with guests, making mosaics and gazing stupidly at nothing in particular when you drink your first morning coffee.

But I can’t help it, I mean: those good intentions. New year, new start, new plans, new energy, a new sound. It is so tempting!

I even – as a good old oldfashioned portuguese habit – ate 12 raisins at the strike of 12. Every strike one raisin. Not easy, I can tell you. And I still am not a fan.

What are your new plans, new starts, sounds, what makes your heart beat faster about your plans for the future? I’m curious!