Life is Good. (2018 Year-end Reflection)

A Ten-year Old Blog.

Thoughts (ernestpensees) turns 10 today. When blogging was at its peak in 2007, I decided to create my own, here on blogspot. This blog started with the aim of sharing my philosophical and political views. In a span of ten years, I posted 74 entries, had to be inactive from time to time to focus on work and other urgent matters. The end of the year is quite near and I’d like to share a bit about how my year went, life realizations and lessons we could somehow all learn from.

Plans and Investments.

Late 2017, I invested a big sum of money along with six others, we were all very excited to venture, it was a food park. We had strong plans and we believed we could turn them into reality. And so we did. From site development, legalities and construction, we were aimed at becoming successful in the food industry. At first it went well, since it was new, then bigger problems arose leading to poor sales.  We had solutions and remedies. We did what we could. Last September, we decided to shut down due to lack of finances. It was a big loss on our part, especially mine, I was there most of the time, I was there when it was time to accept our failure.

Losing.

Decisions have to be made, sometimes very quickly. Years’ worth of savings gone in just a few months. While running the business, I had to choose between stopping to shell out money to continue further and the fact that if I did so, our workers would lose their jobs, their source of income. I had to choose the former option despite the losses we’ve incurred, until such time when there was almost none left. It was an illogical move, as people would see it, but having been through this before, I believe I made the best decision.  Contrary to how other people would normally react, failing was not that hard to accept. Stopping after such failure was never an option. I am currently recovering my finances, I may be quite far from reaching that amount but I have to move. It’s just money. It’s something we could earn through time and effort. Losing a big amount of money also lead me to look at the bigger things, things which go beyond big spending and big losses. Losing which leads to life-long gains. Things of greater value like the people who were always there along the way, learning, striving, trying and choosing to continue. The experience was like taking a master’s degree again but more of the practical, hands-on curriculum with no books and nothing academic at all.

Wisdom.

            2018 has been a fruitful year for me. I surpassed bigger challenges and enjoyed some achievements. Opportunities came on time just after the food park. I still have my day job and part time teaching. I know for sure that I will never live this life empty-handed, it’s otherwise, time and fate just make us let go of the things we have until we are almost empty, then it fills us with greater things. I recall that conversation with a former student, he was asking for philosophy books to deepen his knowledge. I told him, philosophy can be compared to cooks who learned how to cook good food and those who went through culinary schools. It’s just about good food. Whether you did some schooling or not, it’s just good food enjoyed by the people whom you’ve cooked for. Philosophers are made not because of the books, but how well one grasps life’s lessons and learns from them. Not how old the person is, but how fruitful our years are. So here’s to 2018 and the year ahead, 2019, it will surely be full of adventures. Cheers!