Paperwork: Make sure to wish yourself a happy new year – every day

It’s a new year.

So, yeah, I am feeling some pressure to look foreword, set goals and shrug off the past.

I should be mapping out 2024 by popping in pins or little flags to mark all the pledges and timelines needed to make it a productive year. But ... ugh ... sorry. I’m still feeling a bit sluggish today, Day 2. Not quite ready to race into a new year

I allowed Day 1 to slide by as a holiday from everything. But not without feeling some guilt the day after the midnight clock released the annual burst of fireworks, songs and cheers – and hopes of a fresh start.

I heard none of it. Everyone in our house already was asleep except me. I was embracing a quiet living room and the brilliant sparkle of a Christmas tree nearby.

I had texted all three sons: “Happy new year.” They were still awake also and each sent back the same wish: “Happy new year.”

Simple enough. It’s what people say. At some point, however, don’t we begin to wonder about what that means? Especially the “happy” part.

At my age I already know that every new year will bring some pain, heartbreak, sadness and grief. So that “happy” wish is often sincere when you think about it. Because we do care about those who are close to us, right?

There are people in our lives who are important to us for many reasons. And the good times – and the gut-wrenching sad times – throughout the year are often attached to them. They bind us.

As I scan all those people who are a part of my life and that universal hope for a happy new year, I focus more on what they mean to me, not what I give to them.

And that brings me to a simple truth. There’s someone I ignore too much. Perhaps this is true for you also.

Even worse, it’s someone I am close to. Very close. Yet it’s someone I still tend to ignore when it’s important that I pay attention.

Like everyone, this person struggles now and then with uncertainty about the future.

This person feels very alone sometimes. A simple phone call could help.

This person puts off things that should not be ignored. Is help needed?

This person knows help or simply advice is needed now and then but doesn’t ask for it. Doesn’t want to bother others or is afraid to ask.

Grief has bent this person over time as loved ones and friends have passed into memory.

Like many others, this person has health issues that are being monitored and controlled but wonders if tomorrow will deal a losing hand.

Perhaps this year I should pay more attention to this person. Because this person, the someone I should not ignore too much, is me.

And perhaps the person you ignore too much is you. Because you matter to all those people who matter to you.

I’m not talking about being selfish. We’re all in the same race, chasing the “happy.” But we cannot be there for others if we are not there for ourselves.

So when I say, “happy new year,” I guess it’s kind of a universal wish that we all take care of ourselves. Do what we can to be happy when we can. And let others help us when we are not.

Because happy can be contagious.

• Lonny Cain, retired managing editor of The Times in Ottawa, also was a reporter for The Herald-News in Joliet in the 1970s. His PaperWork email is lonnyjcain@gmail.com. Or mail The Times, 110 W. Jefferson St., Ottawa, IL 61350.