VN January 2023

Vetnuus | Januarie 2023 4 “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.” -T.S. Eliot I raise my glass to the new year. There are many ways to viewmy glass, as seen in the cartoon posted. I believe that my glass is half empty with loads of space left. The filled half is the foundation on which I stand. In my life, it is my relationship with God. In fact, the filled half is rock. A solid substance onto which I can build. It is what anchors me inmy life. The space above, in my mind, is room for possibilities. It is empty, so I can grow, I can soar in, and it is my pallet. I can fill it with my life, my hopes and dreams. I peekovermy shoulder at 2022 andher predecessors; I takeout of it the good. I learned from the not-so-great experiences. I build that into the bottom of my glass. Then I take the lesson from Luke 9v62: ‘But Jesus said to him “No one, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’” If you are a farmer, you know that looking back while ploughing is detrimental to good planting rows. No good comes from looking back the entire time. It may be comforting to see where you came from, and looking forward to the unknown quite daunting, but our future lies forward. Out of the great movie The Lion King comes a couple of very, very true quotes: • “It’s times like this, my buddyTimon here says: you got to put your behind in your past.”-Pumbaa • “Oh yes, the past can hurt. But from the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it.”-Rafiki In this edition of theVetnews, the topic of MentalWellness is addressed. Something that is not often spokenabout, andwhen it is, it is veryhush- hush. Many professionals still believe that it only happens to other peo- ple or only happens to the weak. They cannot be further from reality or the truth. Mental Wellness is something that must be practised and practised daily. Optimism (which I think is the opposite of despair or depression) is 25% genetic. The rest of the glass is what an individual can do to build optimism into his life. Optimism is spread very thin if you look at our country (external fac- tors – you cannot do much about it). In fact, it is very threadbare. It is much easier to be negative about what is happening than positive. But I would like to quote Mike Abel from a post made on Facebook on the ‘ Africa, this iswhy I live here’ group May you experience joy in 2023! v Andriette From the Editor Editor’s notes / Redakteurs notas Andriette van der Merwe