Looking Back and Looking Ahead
January 05, 2025"... but that was yesterday, and yesterday's gone."
This was a phrase I've used many times in my life to refer to situations in which I may have wished for a different result or a chance to do thingsdifferently but couldn't. The time had passed and there was no going back to yesterday to replay it even if I wanted to.
I heard this phrase from a song many years ago..... I couldn't recall from where exactly or who sang it, so I looked it up. It's was Chad and Jeremy who sang it in 1964. Told you it was many years ago!
I never heard of Chad and Jeremy either but the tune stuck with me all these years.
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Which brings us to the new year - a moment in life where we humans seem to spend at least a little time reflecting on what happened this past year and look forward to the new with anticipation of better things. Some people even make resolutions for the new year, which invariably fall apart by March.
Looking back and looking ahead is what we do; perhaps that's as it should be.
Hence, the image of Janus up there on the right, in case you were wondering what that had to do with anything here.
Wikipedia says, "Janus is a Roman god associated with beginnings, gates, transitions, and doorways, often depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions. The month of January is named after him, symbolizing new beginnings and the passage of time."
There you have it, January as the transition month from the year just past and the gateway to the year ahead. If face size reflected the proportion of time focused on yesterday and tomorrow, this particular image of Janus would suggest equal time pondering our past and our future.
I have known people who seemed to spend a lot of time with their head in the past. It seems it was there they felt they were somebody or were confident in themselves or were the happiest. Sentences would start with "I remember when..." or "I used to..."
I certainly have memories of some "good times" in the past. Music tends to bring back many of those memories. For example, I recall how happy I felt driving down Burlington Ave in Hastings, Nebraska on a warm sunny spring day in my cherry red '69 Plymouth Roadrunner listening to Steely Dan and Reelin' in the Years. A beautiful day in my dream car listening to great music.
I also remember about a year later cruising down busy 8th Street in Rapid City, South Dakota in a similar sunny day in that same Roadrunner when I left my teeth marks in the steering wheel when I rear-ended a 4-wheel drive pick up. I sobbed uncontrollably for a half hour over the hood of my totaled dream car. Police just left me alone until I was done....
That was memorable.
... but that was yesterday, and yesterday's gone.
More recently, I remember December 31, 2023 when I received an email from the management company of an investment we had in Thailand. It announced that it had shutdown and I instantly lost 85 grand.
That was memorable.
I learned that when you have the option to lose 85 grand or 45 grand, choose the latter.
But I also remember that by December 31, 2024 I'd made that 85 grand back plus a lot more.
That was memorable, too.
I learned that the benefits of opportunity ebb and flow only to those who remain in the game.
... but all that was yesterday, and yesterday's gone.
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Here we are... in 2025.
I'm more of a tomorrow's guy. My dreams are more powerful than my regrets or yearnings for the past. It's not that I don't remember yesterday, I just don't dwell on it much.
If Janus-faced proportionality was applied to me, there would be a little face looking back and a BIG face looking forward.
I'm always planning my next project, investment or idea. Most of them go nowhere, but that's really not the point. It's all forward, it's about anticipation. The future is where dreams are kept, where possibilities are unlocked.
What's your Janus head look like? The future is waiting for you.
Best wishes for 2025.
Kermit