Unexpected Inspiration – A Vision for the Year Ahead

Welcome to 2016. The best year of your life!

It’s a clean slate. A fresh start. A blank canvas. A time for planning out the year ahead. Well, with 2015 now having come to its close, there is much for me to ponder over. In particular, the things I want to accomplish this year, but more importantly the man I want to become. That is to say, the version of me I will grow into in the year ahead, Matt Rogers Version 37.0. The biggest question I get to answer is: How? How after 3+ decades of living do I evolve into a better version of myself? After all, if I’m not GROWING and CHANGING for the better, then I’m DYING and STAGNATING for the worse.

You see, somewhere around the age of 19, I began physically writing down goals for who and what I wanted to become in the year ahead. I hesitate to use the word ‘resolution’ instead of ‘goals’, as it seems that New Year’s Resolutions have taken on the reputation of being shallow promises made by not-so-serious people attempting to hop on the good-intention-bandwagon. Despite the bad rap, New Year’s Resolutions are certainly better than nothing at all. And ultimately, identifying goals and writing them down is the best way to make them a reality.

So, as I sit here and ponder, looking through the window of the mobile Destination Tree Headquarters, currently here in Fresno, CA I can’t help but find myself distracted by a small boy, around the age of four or five running around to and fro in the distance. He’s splashing through puddles wearing a light blue jacket, striped pants, yellow rain boots, and topped off with a red cap as well as yellow and green mismatched mittens. A mismatched outfit not unlike one I would have worn as a kid. The more I watch him living out the exploration of his surroundings, in the fine mid-morning rain, the more I grow inspired thinking about my future self and the year ahead. Inspired to be alive, and excited just like him. Or rather I should say, a 37-year-young version of him.

That’s it! My goal for the year ahead is to LIVE! Not just exist, but to live with the all-encompassing senses of an adventuresome kid again. Eager to explore the world around us. To see past the “grown-up” blinders, and into the truly amazing world that exists beyond them. Who would have thought this pint sized fellow was a little walking (and splashing) epiphany?

He doesn’t care about the name of the brand embossed on his clothes. Or that he’s wearing a full spectrum of mismatched colors. He’s not attempting to impress others with the way he looks or fancy material possessions. His focus is on happily living in the moment. Making the most of what he has, while he has it, and sharing the concept with those he cares about.

This little guy isn’t thinking up convincing stories to justify or lie or deflect responsibility for why he’s covered in puddle water. The thought doesn’t even enter his head as he proudly takes ownership over his actions. He’s not sitting on the curb dwelling over all that did or didn’t go as planned for him this past year, instead he’s focused on seizing the day and that of the world around him. There’s no negativity or ungratefulness in the way he carries himself. On the contrary, he’s actually filling me with a positive outlook. I’m gaining a feeling of grateful inspiration, with ideas of hope for an even brighter year ahead!

To my knowledge, watching him swat a branch through the air in front of him isn’t out of hate, spite, nor to get even with another kid. He’s doing what he’s doing out of curiosity for the unknown and to test the boundaries of what he knows or thinks he knows. Every rock he overturns is a different treasure hunt. Each tree he stands under looking up into is a new challenge. Around the fence behind him he knows a new journey awaits. Where many adults struggle and see only fear or obstacles, he helps remind me to see opportunities for the year ahead. He reminds me that I don’t have all the answers, and that I have to keep questioning what I think I know. If I am to keep learning and growing myself, then I have to keep questioning. Who, what, when, where, why and how are the six most important questions ever invented in my opinion.

And then it happens. Just like that, he’s gone. The pint sized version of me has vanished. And I realize I have no way to thank him. Perhaps he’s off to a new adventure, or simply off to lunch. I’ll never know. But he helped remind me to be a boy at heart, so that I too can live by example. It was an unexpected reminder from an unexpected person. A reminder that to really be a grownup is to know that we never truly “grow up”. That we all have a curious kid inside who waits for the chance to guide us along the path of positivity, wonder and exploration.

So, cheers to you little man, wherever you are, and thank you for helping guide me with my new goals for the year ahead. To exist is not to live, to live is to live. So here’s to making 2016 a better version of ourselves, a year of living, of enjoying every moment. May this be the best year of your life.

Cheers!

Matt