Happy New Year!
I suppose I’m not the only one excited about the new year. I trust you are as ecstatic as I am.
The New Year brings with it a fresh start. A new beginning. A time to reset. A time to pick back up what has been forgotten.
And in this post, I want to set aside some time to show you the value of a new year. Perhaps, you’ve never thought about the year in such ways and I hope to bring a different perspective.
(I have already given my 2016 New Year message and challenge here. Please check it out.)
The Value of a New Year
When the clock strikes 12 o’ clock on every 1st day of January, it literally feels like the world has just begun. Indeed, this is the beginning of a new year and there’s nothing wrong with being excited.
However, in our excitement, we must realize that every new year is an opportunity to become better. To become more than we were in the previous year.
And God willing, there will be many opportunities as such.
But let’s turn to the value of one year, if broken down to…
Months: 12 months
Ask a mother who gives birth to a premature baby how valuable one single month is. Yet, you have twelve in one year.
Weeks: 52 weeks
It is easy to believe that a week is so little a time until you find out that Lebron James or Cristiano Ronaldo earns about $441,740.38 in one week.
I think these guys would be in a better position to tell you the value of one week.
You have 52 of such in one year.
Days: 365 days
It takes an extra day in the calendar (February 29th) to have a leap year. 2016 is one of those years.
If one day is valuable enough to make a leap year, what is the worth of 365 days?
Hours: 8,760 hours
I remember training to run my first 26 mile marathon.
You think an hour goes by fast?
Not when your feet start aching after mile 20, your muscles start cramping, and you start paying attention to every little step. When you’re doing nothing but running (and you haven’t gotten to a professional level), you’ll undoubtedly realize how long an hour can truly be.
That’s the value of an hour.
You have 8,760 of such in one year.
Minutes: 525,600 minutes
If you’ve ever missed a flight and could literally see the door closing, then you’ll appreciate every minute that fleets by.
If you’ve ever been in the plank position during a workout, you’ll also know the value of a minute.
There are over half a million of these short but valuable moments in a year.
Seconds: 31,540,000
Someone once said “If you want to know the value of one second, ask the person who just escaped death in a car accident.”
This is very true because there are rare cases where the victims will tell you that if given an extra second, they could have salvaged the situation.
You have approximately 32 million seconds in one year.
“I have only just a minute,
Only sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me,
can’t refuse it.
Didn’t seek it,
didn’t choose it.
But it’s up to me to use it.
I must suffer if I lose it.
Give account if I abuse it.
Just a tiny little minute, b
ut eternity is in it.”-Dr. Benjamin E. Mays
Final Words
You really don’t have to repeat a class, or attend an extra year in college to realize the value of one year. All those who died last year (God rest their souls) do not have what it takes to see the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks and months 2016 affords.
To all of us who made it to 2016, let’s make the most out of it.
Don’t waste this year away. You can invest this year in learning new things and becoming better.
If you can’t invest the whole year, you can invest months. If you can’t invest months, you can invest weeks. If you can’t invest weeks, you can invest days. If you can’t invest days, you can invest hours. If you can’t invest hours, you can invest minutes. If you can’t invest minutes, you can invest seconds.
“Happy New Year” literally means…
“Happy New 12 Months”
“Happy New 52 Weeks”
“Happy New 365 Days”
“Happy New 8,720 Hours”
“Happy New 525,600 Minutes”
“Happy New 31,540,000 Seconds.”
(You pick the one that resonates with you.)
Just a reminder of the value of a year. Invest it wisely.
Until next time.
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