Turning the Page
2025, baby! We’re here, whether we know it or not. I frequently think about my perception of time as how much of a time gap I feel between now and a year ago today. Unsurprisingly, the gap feels smaller each time I think about it. Part of that feeling comes, of course, from the fact that we are alive and so each passing minute makes up a smaller proportion of our total living time. Other factors include fewer life landmarks (school years, summer jobs, life achievements) to mark passing time and settling deeper into routine and comforts. Both of these things make daily life feel more familiar with fewer unique moments and make it easier to be less present. To let time melt away.
When I watched my 1 Second Everyday video for 2024 - an annual tradition since 2015(!) - I felt a familiar sense of wonder in how much happens in a year. I also felt that, while a lot happened, I didn’t really get anywhere. This is far from true and I think reflects my general underlying desire to be on a more concrete path. I have not felt a real sense of direction since I started to question public speaking as a career choice almost two years ago. The video reminded me that despite all of the adventures and travels and wonderful people I got to spend time with last year, I always wound back up at home, in Ridgefield, Connecticut, facing the same set of big life questions.
New year - clear skies ahead! Well, not always. But go outside, it's better there.
It’s puzzling for me to continue to feel these feelings now that I have a path with the National Park Service that will put me in Yellowstone later this year. In many senses, this outcome is a dream come true and checks many boxes on my “ideal life scenarios” list. However, there remains this undetermined length of waiting thanks to molasses-like government processes. Until I physically start training, my mind is in a state of denial that any real change is coming. I am still not working, still living without full independence, and still questioning my life purpose.
There are benefits to free time and breaks from the routine and busyness that many of us feel in our working lives as I have had for a while now. I also believe there are great benefits to having structure in our lives. Whether we love our jobs or not, they give us purpose and a framework around which we can live the rest of our lives. They provide financial stability, a community (hopefully), and challenge us to prioritize and spend our time wisely.
Does this piece contain any nuggets of new or interesting information for you, dear reader? Perhaps not. But, this blog exists largely to help me gain clarity as I sift through my thoughts and junctions in life. Sometimes stating the obvious can be helpful, and maybe someone will relate to or resonate with something here. You tell me!
Regardless of your thoughts on the above train of thought, we’re in a new year with a fresh set of uncertainty and challenges and opportunities. By the end of the year, we’ll be over halfway through the roaring twenties, so let’s make the most of the year. The following is as much for me as it is for you: focus on living in real time, on doing things that make you feel whole, and spending less time doing things that don’t serve you or those you care about. Cheers!
Oh, and definitely get outside. Happy New Year!
-Ben Grannis
#EyesUp
