Accentuate the positive

My 2023 resolution - separate from my goals, which have to be SMART, cause I’m that sort of Type A nerd - is to become more hopeful. Which started out as “become less cynical”, but goals and resolutions should always be phrased as a positive admonition to do, not to not do something. (Excuse me, into Yoda turned I have.)

This is sort of an expansion on my last post about me and the Gavle Goat and why it became important to me that the goat did not burn.

2022 was kind of a hard year for me. My dad passed away. And the world was full of grim news all around, as usual. I was far too addicted to doom scrolling on Twitter, watching the world burn and feeling more and more despairing about it all. After the last few years a lot of people feel like their mental health is in a fragile state.

As we go on through 2023 I want to do the following to help me become less cynical and despairing and more hopeful and positive.

Me, Mastodon, and the Gavle Goat

 Me, Mastodon, and the Gavle Goat

What is the Gävle Goat anyway?

The Gävle Goat is a large straw goat erected as a Christmas display in the town of Gävle in Sweden. It’s a representation of the traditional Yule Goat - or Julbocken - which features in various Yule and Christmas traditions in Scandinavia.

Back in 1966 Stig Gavlén, an advertising consultant, came up with the idea of building a large Yule Goat display to attract people to the local shops and restaurants. On 1 December 1966, the local fire department erected the first Gävle Goat. It was 13-metres high, 7 metres long, and weighed 3 tonnes. Impressive! It stood through to the 31st of December, when a vandal burned it down.