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For once in a long while, I was side-lined tonight by a bout of illness. If the truth be told, I would have opted for a quiet night at home anyways, but this year I have the luxury of blaming my calm New Year’s activities on that of being victim of a sinister virus. So, I won’t have to laugh at myself for another year. Yes!

Needless to say, I am up now not because of my raucous ways but because my throat is sore and I could no longer endure my own discomfort. For the record, I am not looking for pity, but am venting my absolute disdain for illness. I hate being sick. Whenever I am sick, I find my natural instincts kick in immediately; I want to be alone and let nature take its course, like our primal ancestors.

And so I am here, pondering the new year and all that 2008 has in store for the next 365 days. It is now that I really appreciate my situation. I’m glad I’m sick and that I slept through the transition from 2007 to 2008. Let me explain…

In the past, the new year was always an event. It was an opportunity to witness the passing of the previous year and take hold of whatever promises or changes we wanted to make for the new year. But, as I mentioned earlier, this was an event, a moment of joy that passed as quickly as the last ten seconds of the previous year. By the time we got to bed that night, the New Year was over and we awoke in its midst.

In missing this year’s ‘event’, I think I may have successfully dodged the hype and stumbled upon a hidden gem for me to ponder. We often look to the New Year’s holiday for a bit of what may have eluded us in the previous year. It’s an opportunity to purge ourselves of our mistakes and we want to believe that the ‘event’ itself will manifest all of our dreams and ambitions for the year to come. But, in recognizing the holiday itself as an ‘event’, we may be failing to really institute all of the changes in our lives that will be necessary to truly make our goals for the year tangible. In essence, we have sold ourselves on New Year’s Day while we should have invested in the entire year. 2008 is going to be one of the most exciting times of my life because it is no longer a solitary event; it’s a consistent way of thinking that will follow me throughout the entire year.

I never thought I would say this, but it’s a pleasure to be ill right now.