Written by Hubert Odias

Everyone began the year 2023 with optimism, goals to reach and dreams to fulfill. At the dawn of 2024, this is the time to take a retrospective look and recapitulate.  Our findings will determine whether it was a good or a bad year.

As we are gearing up for 2024, people have their minds set on how they began the year 2023 and how they are wrapping it up to ring in the New Year. This is a common practice that we all share, given our objectives, choices and tastes, which define our lifestyle, our living standards, how big or small our dreams may be.

A true dreamer is someone who develops a strong desire to work hard and succeed. Success can be translated into many things, including a dream house or a car, starting a new career to completion, having a good job, financial stability or a vacation to a distant land.

A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals,” Larry Bird.

It’s impossible to speculate on a global objective scale, determining who fails or succeeds in 2023. Whatever the circumstances, we all need to apply the lessons we learned from our experiences this year to make 2024 a better year.  As for me, I can say that the year 2023 was a blessing because it paved the way for me to reach my future goal.  It’s a goal that is coming to fruition that I am not yet ready to reveal.

By taking a retrospective look at the year 2023, people are assessing the events of their lives. It is a personal inventory that balances the results obtained against sheer expectations. Whether the year was good or bad depends on what it turns out to be. It is also about the lessons we’ve learned about ourselves in the process of life moving in the pattern of a roller coaster.

People who set their goals high and who fulfill them always take pride in sharing their success stories, but often with a detailed account of hard work, challenges and difficulties. In contrast, those who end the year 2023 with unmet expectations, far from giving up, should welcome the New Year with optimism and an achievable resolution. Now let’s aim at a new endeavor, work hard, expand our potentials and stretch our limits without causing harm to ourselves.

As we look forward to 2024, regardless of the outcome, we all must retrace and reflect on every step we’ve taken in 2023. In that process, we reminisced about the things we contended with, i.e., the challenges, the ups and downs and the unpredictability of things. But above all, we can find comfort in the accomplishments and everything that would forever make 2023 a year of destiny filled with successful memories. Happy Holidays!