We should stop being so hard on ourselves. We should also stop limiting our ability to set goals and make a change to the start of the year. Forget new year’s resolutions—how about new day’s resolutions? If you need to get back on your feet and it’s March 13th, it’s not too late.
Still, as humans there is satisfaction in observing time and organizing it in neat units. And sometimes it is beneficial to step back and look at years. To look at progress and plans from the macro level. For this, Estonians have some vanasõnad—“old words” literally, old sayings—to mull over as the new year starts to simmer away.
Parem aasta oodata kui kaks kahetseda. (Better to wait a year than regret two):
There’s a time to be hasty, and a time to be patient. It’s up to your discretion which approach to choose, but there are some situations in which “waiting and seeing” is often the best course of action, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.
It’s generally a good idea to not come on too strong when dating, right? Like showing up to dinner and asking your date, “So which do you prefer, city hall, a church, or a destination wedding?”
Dating is one of them. It’s generally a good idea to not come on too strong when dating, right? Like showing up to dinner and asking your date, “So which do you prefer, city hall, a church, or a destination wedding?” Desperation isn’t a very attractive quality, and it’s one humans can sense in words, body language, and gestures. Likewise, it’s helpful to observe people and notice whether they are the right fit for you.
Another social situation where waiting is a good idea is in negotiations. Wait to see what the other side offers. Analyze what it is that the other party desires. Determine what it is that you are seeking. See if a healthy compromise can be met. To introduce an English-language idiom here, “keep your cards close to your chest.”
When dealing with financial investments, such as stocks, it’s often advised that you shouldn’t sell when stock prices are plunging. Panic selling could cause you to lose more money in the long-term. If you can wait things out long enough to see the market recover, you can benefit from selling stocks at a higher price.
There’s something shrewd about this vanasõna. It’s as though it were coined by someone with a Myers-Briggs INTJ personality (describing someone who is Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Judging).
Inimene läheb aasta vanemaks, kaks targemaks. (A person gets a year older, two wiser):
In English, there is the saying “Another year older, another year wiser”, but seemingly, the amount of wisdom one possesses increases twice as fast if you’re in Estonia! It must be those long, stoic winters. Those periods of cold, calm contemplation.
A wiser individual will also realize how much more there is to learn. As Spanish-American writer and philosopher George Santayana said, “The wisest mind has something yet to learn.”
Kidding aside, time is able to fix a lot of problems, depending on the person. Time heals wounds. It can allow us to forgive and forget. With an added year, we’re often smarter and better at what we do. A wiser individual will also realize how much more there is to learn. As Spanish-American writer and philosopher George Santayana said, “The wisest mind has something yet to learn.”
Anticipating more wisdom also provides us with relief, to think that something we might not understand this year will be clearer in the next.
Päeviti ela, aasta mõtle ette. (Live for days, think for a year):
One related English-language quote that comes to mind is “Plan in decades. Think in years. Work in months. Live in days.” This one has been attributed to both entrepreneurial coach Nicholas Haralambous and motivational speaker and author Melanie Robbins.
It’s tough to strike a balance between living in the present and being ambitious. At times, there’s a sense that living for days makes you less capable to think for a year. If you’re busy enjoying the here and now, will you have time to chip away at goals that take weeks, months, and years to reach?
Put yourself out there, apply to be in galleries, meet people who are involved in those spaces. However, keep coming back to those marks on the canvas.
This vanasõna is an important reminder that it’s possible to do both meaningfully, or that we should at least try. If you want to be a painter with an extensive body of paintings in galleries, find the joy in each mark on a canvas. Put yourself out there, apply to be in galleries, meet people who are involved in those spaces. However, keep coming back to those marks on the canvas.
Design your day-to-day so that it leads to the future you want, but also allows you to be happy right away. Because you never know if you will reach that future, and it would be a shame to be miserable in the pursuit of something far away.
Here’s wishing you a wonderful year ahead! Toredat 2024 aastat kõigile!
