New Years Day 2015: fifteen things to be thankful for

By Will Stabley | January 1, 2015

New Years Eve means 2014 is in the bag – and it’s time to look ahead to the upcoming 2015 new year. Instead of looking back at a year none of us have yet forgotten, or offering a list of arbitrary new years resolutions based on a mere calendar milestone, here’s a look at fifteen things I’m thankful for heading into 2015. Some are personal, while some are universal enough that they just may apply to you as well.

1. Travel. I’ve gotten to spend the past two years traveling, living and working from the road – and I’m still in one piece.

2. Family. I trust this one doesn’t require further explanation.

3. Self reliance. All of my sports teams have losing records this year, yet the world hasn’t ended. It’s a nice reminder that my happiness isn’t dependent on the achievements of strangers.

4. NYC. I got to spend another two months living in New York this year. Being in that city is always a gift.

5. Barack Obama. Twenty years from now we’ll be looking back at his long list of lasting accomplishments, and wishing we’d treated him better.

6. Facebook. For all its ups and downs, there are a number of people who are meaningfully in my life whom I never would have found if it weren’t for the social network.

7. Health insurance. After being forced to go a decade without access to proper medical care due to being self employed with pre-existing conditions, it’s difficult to quantify just how vital health insurance has been to my well being in 2014.

8. iPhone 6. It’s the most vital piece of personal technology ever created, not because of its features or specs, but because of the many ways in which it makes my life easier and keeps me more plugged in to the outside world. And it just keeps getting more useful with each new version.

9. Luck. Something as simple as getting my sleep apnea treated this year has made me feel like I’m nineteen again, relatively speaking. It’s a reminder that you never know when a substantial improvement to your quality of life will fall into your lap. Luck leans everyone’s way at least once in a awhile. 2015 could be your turn.

10. Love. Found it. Lost it. Will find it again. So will you.

11. Robin Williams. I’m thankful I got to meet him and experience a sliver of his comedic genius first-hand before he left us.

12. Music. No matter how your day goes, the right music can help you make sense of it or just make you feel alright. And while you may have had to look for it, there has been good new music in 2014. Just maybe, 2015 will be the year in which rock music finally makes a comeback.

13. The Future. It’s 2015. This is the year in which Back To The Future predicted we’d have hoverboards and flying cars. We have neither. But the rate at which technology is advancing suggests that anything is possible before the new year is finished.

14. Old friends – and new ones. Old friends are a link to where you came from and who you used to be. New friends know you for who you’re aspiring to be. Both are equally invaluable.

15. Los Angeles. I didn’t get to spend a single day in 2014. But it’s comforting to know that LA will be there for me when I need it again.