Rant #2,290: A Brand New Me

We have almost gotten to the end of our journey.

2018 is just about over, and all I can say is "Good Riddance."

This was the most difficult and hardest year of my life.

I can't even fully get into why it was so bad, but I have illustrated much of the insanity to you time and time again at this blog, and it hasn't been pretty, to say the least.

But I think that with the close of this year tonight, I, personally, will put everything behind me and look for a new start in 2019.

Look, 2018 was such a bad year for myself and my family that 2019 cannot be any worse ... or at least I hope it can't.

As for me, I am going to turn over a new leaf, or at least try to.

I am going to lessen any pressure that I put on myself, and just look ahead to the day(s) at hand.

Much of the pressure I have put on myself comes from my work situation.

What I have decided to do is literally go with the flow, and grin and bear the uncertainly that has been doled out to me and the other five full time workers--yes, that is what it is down to--at my place of business.

There is nothing I can do about the situation, nothing at all, so why worry myself with it?

I will still look for another job, but if there is a day that I cannot find anything on the job boards--which I have proven to you are highly suspect to begin with--then well, there isn't anything for that day.

I mean, at least right here and right now, I have a job, so, like Alfred E. Neuman has said many times, "What, me worry?"

I say all these things, but being a worrier, it is going to be difficult to do, but I will certainly try to not get into a huff about this situation.

The one thing that I have is that my family is super strong, but this year showed some cracks. Those cracks are certainly repairable, and we are on the road to doing just that by doing things that will allow us to get back to some sort of normalcy.

My son is the focus of these efforts. He has a long road to go before he can reach the goals he has, and we have, for himself, and every day seemingly presents new challenges.

We are going to get there, or at least closer to where we need to be, in 2019, and we will do it as a family, which is the best and only way this can be done.

And we know that it will be a difficult road, as it has been over the years, but our son will eventually succeed, because like I have told him repeatedly, "Where there's a will, there's a way."

Although talk is cheap, I think for myself--and the world--we must lessen the political mishmosh that we are in right now as a society, and I am going to do my part by trying to lessen the rhetoric here.

I will speak up when I need to speak up, but on the whole, no matter what side of the pond we are on, we are all Americans, and we must start to act as one unified whole.

We must stop being so sensitive about everything, and we must stop taking ourselves so seriously.

We must learn to laugh at ourselves again, and stop being so critical of every little thing.

We must learn to smile, and even though it is kind of sappy, we must "Put On a Happy Face," and stop the nonsense.

I have this forum to do just that, and while not every thing I write here is going to be happy and joyous, I am going to try to put that "happy face" on much of what I write, which I think I already do here.

Politics is out; fun is in.

So all in all, through this rambling last Rant of the year, I am going to consciously look at the bright side, and stop the negatives.

I will write about material that I feel is necessary to write about, but I would rather make you smile and think than rile you up.

I have learned that it serves no purpose, and I hope that others find that out too.

This is the greatest country in the world, and let's get with the program, and stop the bashing.

So to sum up, yes, these are New Year's resolutions, and how many of those do we actually keep?

But I am going to try, and I mean, really try, to keep these that I have mentioned here.

It is the healthiest way to put a horrid year behind me, and look forward to making the year ahead a great one.

So to everyone, have a great new year, and I will speak to you again on Wednesday.