Just One Joey: New Year

I never thought much of New Year’s as anything other than the first day on the calendar until I couldn’t wait to get to the first day on the calendar.

There is nothing like getting out of a sh***y year.

You ever have one of those years? Where you look back and go, “wow, that was a rough one.”

That’s what this song (iTunes or Google Play) is about, getting through the worst year of my life.

Not only surviving that year, but being excited about the year ahead. One without baggage. One that was unwritten. One filled with promise.

The countdown meant so much to me that December. It was a long year, and it was finally over.

It’s tough to decide what I wanted more, to get out of the previous year? or get to the new one? Not much difference I know, but was I running towards, or running away?

That year, it didn’t matter. I was in survival mode.

To be honest, it wasn’t just that year I was trying to escape from, it was the previous three. And if I am really being honest, I couldn’t wait to get away from the past 15 years.

I was a different person now, a better person, a stronger person.

I was clear headed, focused, driven, and ready for everything I had learned the last 12 (and 36) months to start taking shape. I was excited. New year, new me. That countdown to zero was symbolic for my entire life that year.

Just like the song says:

“and it’s 3,2,1,

Starting over.”

(iTunes or Google Play)

The Good And The Bad

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying there wasn’t anything good about the previous 3, or 15 for that matter, but once you realize that you are lost, or broken, you follow your trail back to the beginning. The beginning of the end? The end of the beginning? I don’t know. What I did know was my 20 year old self would have punched by 32 year old self in the face for being such an asshole.

You ever think about that?

That’s a great test.

If your former self would punch your current self, it is time to change.

My former self may have stabbed my 32 year old self, in the face. That’s how bad it was.

And please don’t think this song is only for people who have messed up. It is about endurance. What have you had to endure? Can you leave it behind this year? Or should you leave it behind this year?

Do You Need To Start Over?

People use symbolic gestures all the time to move past something painful. Throwing things away, burning things, etc. You clear out the bad to make room for the good.

What do you need to clean out?

You have 31 days to do it.

New Year. New You.

That is a horrible cliché, but I will be damned if it isn’t true.

Don’t you hate that?

“It is what it is” is so irritating, until it isn’t. Until it fits your situation perfectly. Damnit.

1/1/17 could be your new beginning.

What do you want to do? Who do you want to be? What have you been putting off since the last countdown? Or the one before that? Or the one before that?

You don’t have to put it off any more. New Year’s Day can be your New You Day!

Corny?

Absolutely!! But who cares?

Put your ego aside, don’t care what people think and make the change. Be the change. This is your life and no one else’s.

So what are you going to do?

“People overestimate what they can do in a week and underestimate what they can do in a year.” — Tony Robbins.

This could be your year.

New Year

Been a long hard year, I can’t say
that I’ll be sad to see it leaving.
Broken hearts,
and cancer scars.
Losing friends before their time, and,

I don’t know why I have the breath in my lungs.
Don’t know why I look around and still see nothing but love.

And all that midnight brings.

Chorus

Happy New Year.
Happy everything to come.
Where everything that’s passed is in the past and gone.
Happy New Year.
As hope moves us along,
and through a year that seemed like it would never end

Every day is just a little bit brighter.
Every single hug is just a little bit tighter.
Our struggles’ scars,
remind us all,
that we’re still here and pushing on

Every single day gets a little bit better.
Every single day that we don’t fold under the pressure.

And all that countdown brings.

Chorus

Happy New Year.
Happy everything to come.
Where everything that’s passed is in the past and gone.
Happy New Year.
As hope moves us along,
and through a year that seemed like it would never end

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?

Been a long hard year, and I’ve never been down so low, but I see the end, and it’s all gonna wash away.

And I know this year that, tried to break me, came so close, but tomorrow we can start over again.

Chorus

Happy New Year.
Happy everything to come.
Where everything that’s passed is in the past and gone.
Happy New Year.
As hope moves us along,
and through a year that seemed like it would never end

And its 3, 2, 1,

3, 2, 1

And it’s 3,2,1.

Starting over

“New Year” in iTunes

“New Year” in Google Play