“Some men and women make the world better just by being the kind of people they are.”  — John Gardner, “The Road to Self-Renewal”  It’s 2025. A year most of us fear or hope will be full of change, challenge, opportunity, threats; hopes of renewal or fears of decay. With dramatic upheaval in our national and world leadership, it’s not a stretch to say somehow, things will be much different in 2025 than in 2024. We just don’t know how — yet.  What we do know is that most of our life will remain self-directed and we remain the captains of our own ships.  For most of us, 2025 will be what we make of whatever is coming at us.  Utmost is knowing just what we want to be, what we want to stand for, and how we define our personal success.  We own our life: Now, what to do with it?  I have friends who live in the middle of the Ukraine war, in Irpin, next to Kyiv. Their town was ransacked and raped when the Russians first invaded, and they’ve been a regular target for drones and missiles ever since.  With this as a backdrop, our friends continue to build and manage their lives.  Can you imagine trying to run a life in Santa Clarita with nightly missile and drone attacks overhead, never knowing if your building is next to get shelled?  My friend, Mrs. Juliya Naumenko, shares her observations of 2024, leading to the new year:   “No matter what, I’m grateful for this past year and am thankful for it keeping me and my family alive. That all the trials that I had to go through during this time were passed with dignity and the ways to solve them were found. I’m grateful for the invaluable experience I have gained by living another year of my weird life. It’s hard to accept, but our earthly path is not always lined with roses and if we are born on this planet we will have to fight spiritually and physically. I take full responsibility for all the good and bad that has happened to me and will happen in the future. Without any unnecessary illusions and empty hopes, I open the door to the New Year. Strength, endurance, and a steely mind to us all! It will be absolutely necessary now as never before!” Juliya’s words would ordinarily serve as great advice for any time of life. That she writes this in the middle of a hot war is remarkably inspirational to us who live in the virtual security bubble of Santa Clarita.  Again, from John Gardner:  “Nothing is ever finally safe. Every important battle is fought and re-fought. We need to develop a resilient, indomitable morale that enables us to face those realities and still strive with every ounce of energy to prevail. You may wonder if such a struggle — endless and of uncertain outcome — isn’t more than humans can bear. But all of history suggests that the human spirit is well fitted to cope with just that kind of world.”  Many New Year’s columns will speak of resolutions and new directions. And that is proper. Creating a large yearly list of specific goals, “to-dos,” and resolutions has assisted me greatly in my own life, and if you haven’t tried it before, do make a list and check it more than twice!  Yet somehow, I think this year needs more than a list.  More than I can recall from the past, this year we face a strange world of change. Artificial intelligence invading unexpected corners of our lives. Continual technological disruptions that constantly challenge us to defend our private spaces while we strive to keep up with the pace of change. Economic challenges, as inflation continues to poke at us and most work very hard to make ends meet. Immigration changes that could impact all of us. Fortunately, at least we don’t have war.   This is a year calling for particular personal resilience, the kind that Juliya Naumenko exemplifies. The kind that steels us up deep inside to forge ahead, literally into the unknown.  In 2025, our personal purpose and meaning will derive from what we’re willing to throw ourselves into with full hearts and spirit.  One last John Gardner quote from “The Road to Self-Renewal” is great advice as we face our new year:  “Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your actions and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you.”  Above all, may we all achieve dignity and meaning in 2025. May we resolutely face the challenges of the new year with courage, good health and joy!   Gary Horton’s “Full Speed to Port!” has appeared in The Signal since 2006. The opinions expressed in his column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Signal or its editorial board. The post Gary Horton | Meeting Our Unusual New Year with Resolve appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.