An end to 2018

2018 sucked in many ways for me. I'd like to say I'm glad to see it go, but I know that, outside of some technical and legal points, the changing of the calendar doesn't mean anything much. Time will continue to grind by, burn away, and things will keep on happening, with or without our permission.

A few years ago, at one of the first "Kick Out the Bottom" open mics, someone (I forget who) read a poem that opened with a litany of warnings against seeking answers in the words of others. "Neil Gaiman doesn't have all the answers," she said, drawing an audible gasp from the crowded room. (Someone might have reflexively hissed "The devil you say.") Neil Gaiman's New Year's wishes have long been a favorite, little blessings full of wisdom and insight and kindness. He hasn't written one in a while, so he put together a post today collecting all of his past wishes, and explaining what a year 2018 has been, and how busy he has been, and how the is the first New Year's in many that he is away from his wife and child, and...

...and then he went ahead and wrote a new wish for the coming year.

Try to make your time matter: minutes and hours and days and weeks can blow away like dead leaves, with nothing to show but time you spent not quite ever doing things, or time you spent waiting to begin.

And with those words, Neil Gaiman has spun me around. Maybe I'll try not to be so pessimistic about the coming year. Maybe I'll make better use of my time. Make my time matter.

Neil Gaiman doesn't have all the answers. But this is something I'll take to heart.

Neil Gaiman's Journal: That Was The 2018 That Was (December 31, 2018)

Neil Gaiman's Journal: My New Year Wish (December 31, 2011

Neil Gaiman's Journal: As I Was Saying (December 31, 2007)

Bustle.com: 16 New Year's Wishes From Neil Gaiman (December 29, 2017)