The final week of December can be a busy and difficult time. We are forced to face the cold, hard truth of our credit card balances, say goodbye to visiting loved ones, and try to avoid all the Top 100 Songs of the Year countdowns that play continuously on every popular radio station. In our quieter moments, we cannot help but reflect on the highs and lows of the previous year. In doing so, it’s easy to fall into the trap of looking back on the year with…whatever the opposite of rose-colored glasses would be. Gray- colored glasses? Lilly- colored glasses? I don’t know which metaphor is accurate, but I encourage everyone to take off all non-prescription glasses and just be honest with themselves.
Starting fresh is great. It’s important to hit the mental reset button when we are feeling overwhelmed or disappointed with ourselves or others. The thing about the reset button, though, is that it doesn’t automatically disappear on January 2nd; it’s available to us year-round. When we resolve to go to the gym five days a week, but end up spending most of February eating chocolate truffles and watching Charlie Brown TV specials, we can hit the reset button. When we resolve to have more patience and then completely lose our cool no less than five times in a single day, we can hit the reset button. It’s important to set attainable goals, even when those goals are as emotionally uncomplicated as reading outside our comfort zones or trying new recipes. However, it is equally important to stay motivated in the face of setbacks and to not look at the path to success as a road with all green traffic lights. So you didn’t lose those twenty pounds or learn how to throw a perfect curve ball. Try again next year. Sometimes it takes more than 365 days for opportunity, emotional readiness, and internal motivation to meet, pushing us full-force into hitting our goals.
Speaking of goals, the LPL began 2014 determined to reach a number of goals we had set for ourselves, and I am happy to say that we are ending the year with a tremendous sense of pride. Under the leadership of our new Director, Trina Reed, we banded together to get our Innovation Station up and running. We also updated our webpage, started this blog, added many new books and media to our collection, and offered hundreds of interesting and diverse programs. We even found the time to become a YouTube sensation with our “Happy Video.”
At the end of the day, all of this work would be meaningless without our patrons. Thank you for your patience, participation, and appreciation for the Levittown Public Library. As we welcome the new year, we do so with excitement and motivation, prepared to make 2015 even better, because our community deserves our greatest efforts.
I would like to leave you with the following quote from Neil Gaiman, writer extraordinaire and fierce champion of libraries. May 2015 bring you love, peace, health, happiness, and enough good books to keep your head in the clouds.
May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.
–Neil Gaiman
Happy New Year,
Jess
