"...got nothin' to lose."

I've always loved Bob Dylan's line: "If you ain't got nothin,' you ain't got nothin' to lose."

As we turned to corner to 2009, there was a collective sigh of relief from those claiming that 2008 was (pick one):

• A meltdown of epic proportions
• A financial disaster
• One of the worst years since the Great Depression
• Financial Armaggedon

With 24-hour news constantly rattling our collective, psychic cages, it is easy to forget that 2008, like every year, had crappy moments. I worked for a company that lost it's largest account and had to let a quarter of the staff go. It was terrible and painful. But the next day, we began the healing process anew and started to re-build. Most, if not all, of our friends who left have since moved on to new opportunities. Those that remained continued to do great work and celebrated their own victories over the course of the year. Crappy moments do not define an entire year.

I have always believed that January 1 does not wash the slate clean. It is just another day, as is January 5th, the day I write this post. Barrack Obama offers hope, but not ultimate solutions. We will experience victories and defeats this year...as we do every year. I am grateful today to be employed and to work beside people for whom I have tremendous respect. I am healthy today as is my family. I live in a country today that, within its borders, continues to enjoy peace and security. It isn't all perfect, but today it is good.

Yes, my portfolio today is thinner. But I am not my portfolio (although I wouldn't mind losing a few extra pounds). I get to wake up every morning and have hope (Obama or no Obama). Americans forget that much of the world is simply trying to meet basic needs while we despair over the relatively small dents put into the excess that we consider our entitlement. Perhaps we should be grateful that we have something to lose?

This morning alone, I have come across the words "dire," "bleak" and "dismal" in articles or blogs heralding the "new year." Here is my prediction: 2009 will be exactly like 2008! It will be comprised of 365 days that are 24 hours long. Each day will bring successes and failures, joys and dissapointments. Jobs will be lost and new journeys begun. Financial portfolios will expand and contract. Companies will die and new enterprises will be born.

Let's not become paralyzed by the headlines. Instead, let's be buoyed by the knowledge that every morning we get to wake up and begin another wild ride that will be crazy, frightful, exhilirating and never predictable.

Here is my wish for a healthy, happy and prosperous... January 5th, 2009!