End of Year Thoughts

Wow the last day of 2007. We always say that the years go by so quickly, it certainly doesn’t feel like 12 months since the last time I was getting ready to go hang out at the Taylor’s place to see in the new year (a little tradition we have here is to go play a couple hours of volleyball and have a BBQ at the same place every year – usually with a half deadly fireworks display at the end).

Where does the year go? It’s another FAQ for this time of year. In my opinion I think most of the year goes to waste. I can’t help but remember so many times when I could have done so much more, but spent the time doing something that really wasn’t worthwhile. I’ve struggled with building meaningful and fruitful friendships this year. I find that most of my friends these days are married, in a relationship or even with a small family of their own. The people I grew up hanging out with now have totally different lives and I’ve been left with a bit of a hole in that area.

I don’t think that’s anyone’s fault. I’m still single, which kinda sucks, and seeing all my friends now with their own families can be tough at times. However I guess I’m still trying to find people to hang out with – and this has led me to spend more time with people younger than me… I find this hard cause I’m in a totally different stage of life (full time work instead of uni study or whatever) and building some deeper friendships is hard because people just don’t really want to discuss stuff at the level I’m use to with my old friends.

In a way I think this year I gave up trying to build those friendships. And looking back on the year I think I spent way too many nights in front of my laptop or TV when I could have been trying to get more involved in different things. I’m not just talking about going out with friends, but because that area in my life was waning I could have used that time to get involved in different volunteer organisations where instead of just moping at home I could have been doing something useful (and meeting new people at the same time).

I think when things kind of don’t go our way and we’re left with nothing to do it’s too easy just to plonk down in front of the TV instead of finding something different but still useful to do.

In the end you get into a cycle of just not doing anything.

We waste so much time. TV ratings for the year are up, records are broken in Internet usage, and Facebook and Myspace are becoming serious addictions for some people. Imagine if everyone just halved their time spent on the net and went out and served somewhere instead. The homeless wouldn’t go hungry, single mum’s would be well supported, their kids would have male role models spending time with them, elderly people would have well maintained yards, home bound people would have company and be looked after, it really would make a difference I think.

Years go by so quick I think, because we fill them with so much meaningless stuff. I’m hoping in 2008 my social life might get a bit of a rejuvenation, but I’m also hoping that if it doesn’t I’ll be able to find something else to do other than wait for the next comment on my Myspace profile.



P.S Oh but anytime time on the net was worth it to find that video below... I have to watch it at least once each day - always brings a smile!