Week 52 - Enduring Renewal

"Now, whether Voyager ever drifts through another solar system (it won't) or is miraculously plucked from the incomprehensible, dark, meaningless swath of space by an intelligent species (it probably won't) isn't nearly as important as what that golden record says about us. Somehow, among bureaucracy and budget cuts and cries of waste, things like this can still get made. They may cost millions and will likely never fulfill their purpose, but we all inherently know the value of trying. These are the most important things humanity will ever do, because they are indicative of the best of what we have to offer. Voyager is simultaneously meticulously logical and absurdly optimistic. It's complicated and light-hearted. It's us on our very best day, and knowing it's out there, beyond our solar system, representing the home team for the first time ever, I can't help but feel proud to be a part of humanity. It's likely never going to be a communication device, but it will still exist as a memory, a photograph of who we were and even if no one sees it, man, we tried. What else could we do?"
- Soren Bowie, Why 2013 Gave Us Reason to Care About Space Again

In a nutshell, it has been an excellent year - and that is an understatement.

For the first time in many years, it seems like my life is actually moving forward (in a direction that I would most definitely agree with). A whole bunch of things that I've put off (or just haven't had the time to get around to) somehow managed to come into fruition - and with that I guess there's also a whole bunch of realizations and general goals that I'll be bringing with me for the rest of my life.

I want to travel more. The fact that people only get to see an insignificant amount of all creation in their lifetimes is a little sad, but it shouldn't stop us from seeing and doing what we can (resposibly, of course). Personally, I've always felt that going to other places and experiencing things different than what we are used to often gives us a chance to learn something new about ourselves - and I think that those times of self-realization are just as important as the things we learn about the world we live in.

I want to continue writing. I joined NaNoWriMo with the expectation that I'll be a little sick of writing after I come out of that month-long grinder. The opposite happened - and here I am, still writing blog entries.

Perhaps the most important thing I've realized is that life, in general, has always been good to me. Sure, there have been lots of ups and downs (and even more in-betweens), but more often than not the amazing things outweigh the bad ones many times over.

Maybe I've known most of these things all along, or perhaps they're things I just realized along the way. Either way, I'm guessing that it's for the better. For what it's worth, I hope that all of us came out of this year as better versions of ourselves.

Because really, isn't that what life is about?

Happy new year, and onward to 2014!