on Jan 1st, 2008A better way of living your life!
You don’t just give up. You don’t just let things happen. You make a stand and you say no. You have the guts to do what’s right when everyone else just runs away. – Rose Tyler
I don’t generally get very chocked up about a line from Doctor Who (usually less than three times a year – the new show has great writing) but this line from a 2005 episode stayed with me. I re-watched the episode about two weeks ago and it has been with me ever since. Great fiction can do more for us than just entertain, it has the ability to show us “A better way of living your life.” as the Doctor did for Rose. Reflecting on this has helped me form my New Years Manifesto.
This year I won’t give up and fall back into what is comfortable. I am sick and tired of scraping by doing a job I loath. I am going to do what I love. I am going to finish my degree (currently on track for May 2008). I am going to spend more time with my photography, in 2006 I put a little more than 5000 shots on my camera, in 2007 I put right at 10,000. In 2008 I am going to make more of the better photographs.
This year I won’t just let things happen, I won’t let others make the decisions for me. I will no longer try and find my happiness in someone else. This year I am the captain, this year I am my own Doctor (as in Doctor Who, not when it comes to the things medical). This year I will be happy, the whole year and I won’t let someone else take that from me.
This year I am going to stand and say no, I am going to do what is right for me. I will take care of myself better. This year I will do something to make the world a better place. Thanks to some words I heard at a church one time, I know how I am going to do it. You see some people don’t appreciate curiosity and some people don’t approve of creativity. However, those were gifts from the divine and I will not ignore their call.
This year I will stop running away, I will chase the dreams and not the desires. I won’t be afraid of failing, for I have fallen and I survived. I have been walked over and forgotten. I have been under-appreciated and disrespected. I have given of my heart and had it rejected. I have done all of that and I have survived.
As I finished writing this I saw that my favorite Author, Neil Gaiman Posted this on his journal:
May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.
I think both Neil and The Doctor agree on what I should do.
This year I shall find a better way of living my life!
Oh, Jared…this is just beautiful.
Just beautiful.
I think I’m going to make my New Year’s Manifesto just be this entire post.
Or, at least, I will let it inspire me to paraphrase it into a few sentences that correspond to similarly to myself.
I especially love the bit at the end from Neil Gaiman, Sir It.
Stunning bit of writing here and truly inspiring.
Great job and thanks for writing it!
I needed to read something like that today!
Happy New Year, Sir It.
xo
Thank you for your extremely kind words. Your writing has made me feel a lot better a couple of times also.