Small and Alone

#11

It was the first of January: stark, unique, and solitary. Quite ordinary in itself, this day gained celebrity status when someone picked it as the beginning of the year -- ever since, so very arbitrarily, it was assigned the number One of One.

One is the herald of change, the pinnacle of achievement, and yet also the peak of loneliness. One is independent and free of frills. One is the destination yearned for, but regretted.

But this first of January, I made a decision: to be, to the best of my powers, brave in isolation and content in solitude; and so here I am -- alone and unafraid, with my feet firmly planted at the centre of my Universe.