Note: The following post was written by Taylor Wells, Communications Director for On The Mark Strategies.
“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.”
- Benjamin Franklin (writer, inventor, Founding Father)
Although the phrasing may be a bit shop-worn, it really is hard to believe yet another year has passed. These celestial chunks of time we’ve adopted to help mark the passing of the ages seem a lot more manageable in smaller pieces. Seconds, minutes, hours, even days are all chewable. It’s the years that seem to stick in our collective gullets, swallowed only with healthy doses of nostalgia, relief, trepidation and maybe even a few more bars of Auld Lang Syne.
While there are a million authors out there sharing a million well-intentioned stories this time of year, this one couldn’t help but add a few thoughts of his own. Call them an elegiac for time passed. Think of them as panacea, balm for the soul at the end of the annual race. To me, they came in the early morning hours of the last day of the old year, as a torch of promise was passed from 2011 to 2012. Instead of stumbling about for an appropriately effete title, I’ll pass them along as simply as they visited me: Things In Life To Enjoy (in no particular order; sprinkle liberally with your own heart’s calling).
A Good Book
Hardback, paperback, e-book. Whatever format best suits your tastes, dive daily into the rich and varied offerings of the printed word. Whether you’re a history fan, a thriller buff, an arts aficionado or all of the above, embrace reading, learning and enrichment beyond your current boundaries. From the Library of Alexandria to the Library of Congress to your corner used bookstore, books may contain knowledge, but set us free upon cracking their covers.
Music
Make time to enjoy music! Man has raised his voice (and later, instruments) for millennia in praise, excitement, fear and exultation of all manner. An eclectic taste is helpful here, so revel in the joy of notes and voice in the formats that speak best to your heart. Musical spokesman for all things eternal and human, Beethoven, remarked: “Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge, which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.”
Childrens’ Laughter
Music in itself, the laughter of children passes a humbling and promising song to adult ears. We seem at once to connect to long-lost parts of ourselves and to the hope of tomorrow. The pure and undiluted pitch of laughter shared by children is as sweet and moving as any symphony. Whether it comes from your own children, grandchildren or is carried lightly in the air while passing a park or playground, inhale deeply this elixir of youth, potential and innocence.
Coffee
It’s on my desk right now. Odds are if you’re reading this at work (especially in the morning hours) you have a mug on yours, too. There’s something calming, bracing and ritualistic about our love affair with coffee, that some say has its roots in Colonial America and a rejection of all things royal (tea, for example). Add cream, milk, sugar or drink as nature intended (black!).
Hints of Seasons
In Texas, summer falls like a cruel and unrelenting hammer. Winter, even in our northern-most reaches, is usually a mere weeks-long flirtation with chill. Maybe that’s why the approach of mid-seasons (spring and autumn) holds such a dear spot in many Lone Star State hearts. As winter recedes, longer days, open windows and the crack of baseball bats engross the collective psyche. In a similar vein, the gentle approach of autumn, with its northerly winds, crisp air and (you guessed it!) football assure us that the seasons are proceeding as they should.
Whatever moves you, whatever quickens your pulse, pace or productivity, make time to enjoy it in this New Year. In twelve months we’ll all be a year older (and hopefully wiser) with nothing more dearly added to our makeup than these moments.
The team at Think Huge wishes you the very best for a blessed, prosperous and fulfilling New Year. Now it’s time to cap off the festive run that began on New York City’s streets Thanksgiving morning with that other beloved bookend of the holiday rite: 21 straight hours of The Twilight Zone!
“If in any quest for magic, in any search for sorcery, witchery, legerdemain, first check the human spirit.”
- Rod Serling (writer, narrator, novelist)


