The holiday's have ended and I feel an extreme lull. Perhaps if I could enter the bandwagon of New Year's optimism then I would feel more zeal for life. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I am depressed about life, it's just a let down -- that's all.

It doesn't help that the post-Christmas drag seems eminent everywhere I go. At work, no one really wanted to talk to anyone. There were few, "How was your holiday," or "I'm ready for the New Year!" Just quiet and occasional grumbles related to Christmas colds and other such ailments. I, too, joined them, wallowing in the pity of my cold, beginning my work for the New Year at a snail-like pace. But then Friday will come, and a weekend will soon pass, back to Monday, and after doing this once or twice, the idea of New Years and Christmas will be a vague vision of the past.

I still have my tree up, its branches look faded and brittle. And the wreathes hanging about my home look like something Smoky the Bear would frown on with disdain. I suppose before I create a fire I better discard these. But really and truly, I think I just need perspective. Something to look ahead to, and perhaps even more than something to look ahead to, but something to look forward to. I'm so future orientated that future plans always motivate me. Though I can't say that it helps that my future plans seemed layered in school, work, and duty. I guess that there lies my problem: only focusing on that aspect of my life ... and making it sound so dull at that.

In a way the new year is an opportunity. Sure, it's just a new month, and there are no real life changing events taking place at the moment; however, the new year is a starting point for fresh plans; a perspective that is far more appealing than leftover Christmas duties. It will be a year full of life, which is something I love, there will be birthday's and holidays, good days and bad days, learning, and even -- change. Yet perhaps the perspective that I can hold onto is that unlike the fast-paced, fly by your seat holidays (that I happen to so love) there will be peace. True in Southern-California we have no peace of snowfall and cold months with cozy fires, but we still have the long month of January and the faithful following months of February and March that give us rest after the chaos of the holidays, the excitement of the Spring and Summer, and the freshness of Fall.

Can't we find purpose in the peace of this oftentimes "too slow for our busy lives" season? While some may be thinking, "there is no rest for me amidst taxes or snow flurries," and maybe I can't relate to whatever the busyness of this season may bring for you. But I do think that most can agree that this season is naturally filled with less season-related flair. And maybe, for the sake of perspective ... and enjoyment, rather than seeing this season as a let down, we can count it as a blessing.

Happy New Year!