Harriette Cole: Pursue your dreams? Yes — but maybe not so fiercely.

DEAR READERS: Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe that we have reached 2022. In some ways, the past year has seemed like a blur that actually lasted for nearly two years.

The lockdown we collectively experienced — which hasn’t fully ended for some of us — put us on a challenging trajectory. And here we are.

For those of us who are blessed to have made it to this day, let us honor that blessing and recognize the opportunity before us. We have the gift of moving forward and taking conscious steps to make each moment count.

What I have discovered over all of my years of engaging and supporting people on their journeys is that what matters most is how we treat each other. Too often we get caught up in goals and dreams and duties — which are all important — and we forget that it is also important how we treat people along the way.

No matter what personality type you may have, you probably have fallen into the trap of being single-minded in your efforts to attain a goal — even if occasionally it meant that you had to push someone aside, ignore another’s needs or feelings, or otherwise have tunnel vision.

To survive, it is true that we sometimes have to claim what we believe is rightfully ours. But I question whether that has to happen to the exclusion of others.