Another New Year
Over the years, I guess that I have made a thousand or so New Year's Resolutions.
For the life of me, I can't remember them at all.
I mean, I guess that I probably promised myself to eat better, sleep better, exercise better, just all around live better, but it seems that I have always fallen into the same old patterns of eating poorly, sleeping poorly, exercising poorly, and so by logical deduction not really living better at all.
Well, it's tough. It's tough to wake up on New Year's Day and just expect the whole person that is you to suddenly be another person that is not you.
After all, just because there's a big celebration somewhere, and just because you have to get a new calendar and remember to write a 2018 on all your cheques and official documents, all that is no guarantee that you're suddenly going to be a different person. As far as I can tell, nobody waves a magic wand and makes you healthier and happier. You just wake up the next morning pretty much the same person you were when you fell into bed the night before. OK, you may have a hickey on your neck, the source of which you possibly have absolutely no idea, but that doesn't really count.
Sucks, I guess. We could all use a little magic in our lives. We could all use a Blue Fairy to swoop down and transform our wooden existence with a little bliss. We could all stand to have a dream come true once in awhile.
Sadly, we are the "stuff that dreams are made on," but few of us ever get beyond continuing to just be stuff — ordinary, everyday people pushing forward while struggling with our demons and feelings of inadequacy.
Still, I think it's great that people are a wishful lot. Day to day, we are hopeful that life will get better. We need that hope, that wonder of better days ahead. Otherwise, what's the point of even getting out of bed?
This year, I've decided to forgo making any resolutions, save for one. I've decided that my one New Year's Resolution will be just that ... resolution.
I must admit that it's a stroke of genius, and you're welcome to steal the whole notion as well.
I'm not resolving to change anything or fix anything, but if something comes up as a bit of a problem, well I plan to meet that problem head-on with all my knowledge and experience that I can muster and work my through it.
Too often in the past, some problems have completely overpowered me and left me sort of drowning in a sea of confusion. Sure I'd look around for help from other people, but usually, the very people I reached out to would smack me over the head with a piece of driftwood and shout in my ear, "Good God, man, can't you see I'm drowning too."
So, no more.
Instead of facing life with the uncertainty of a 36-year-old virgin, I've decided to face life with unrelenting decisiveness and courage.
Say, for example, my doctor were to tell me that I had six months to live. I suppose that I could swoon dramatically and collapse into a state of utter self-pity, or maybe I could smile brightly and say, "Jeez, doc, I thought for a minute there you were going to say I had only three months to live."
You see it's not about disaster. Disaster always comes. You simply can't escape that fact. It is, however, about how you face disaster. You can collapse and crumble in the face of hardship, or you can find the resolve to meet every disaster head-on.
Now, don't get me wrong. Resolution is not a solution. That's why there's that little "re-" preface at the front of the word. I am positive, however, that the word "resolution" was constructed by some quick-witted neologist to suggest that resolution is, in fact, the necessary preface to a solution. Without the resolve to confront a problem, well I guess you're running away from it, and if you're running away from it, that nasty old dilemma will never be solved.
So, here's to facing the coming year, not with a whole laundry list of resolutions, but with just simple resolution. I may not be a "better" person in the coming year, but I will be a stronger person.
In strength, there is clarity. In clarity, there is understanding. In understanding, there is hope ... the very "stuff that dreams are made on."
Happy New Year.
Over the years, I guess that I have made a thousand or so New Year's Resolutions.
For the life of me, I can't remember them at all.
I mean, I guess that I probably promised myself to eat better, sleep better, exercise better, just all around live better, but it seems that I have always fallen into the same old patterns of eating poorly, sleeping poorly, exercising poorly, and so by logical deduction not really living better at all.
Well, it's tough. It's tough to wake up on New Year's Day and just expect the whole person that is you to suddenly be another person that is not you.
After all, just because there's a big celebration somewhere, and just because you have to get a new calendar and remember to write a 2018 on all your cheques and official documents, all that is no guarantee that you're suddenly going to be a different person. As far as I can tell, nobody waves a magic wand and makes you healthier and happier. You just wake up the next morning pretty much the same person you were when you fell into bed the night before. OK, you may have a hickey on your neck, the source of which you possibly have absolutely no idea, but that doesn't really count.
Sucks, I guess. We could all use a little magic in our lives. We could all use a Blue Fairy to swoop down and transform our wooden existence with a little bliss. We could all stand to have a dream come true once in awhile.
Sadly, we are the "stuff that dreams are made on," but few of us ever get beyond continuing to just be stuff — ordinary, everyday people pushing forward while struggling with our demons and feelings of inadequacy.
Still, I think it's great that people are a wishful lot. Day to day, we are hopeful that life will get better. We need that hope, that wonder of better days ahead. Otherwise, what's the point of even getting out of bed?
This year, I've decided to forgo making any resolutions, save for one. I've decided that my one New Year's Resolution will be just that ... resolution.
I must admit that it's a stroke of genius, and you're welcome to steal the whole notion as well.
I'm not resolving to change anything or fix anything, but if something comes up as a bit of a problem, well I plan to meet that problem head-on with all my knowledge and experience that I can muster and work my through it.
Too often in the past, some problems have completely overpowered me and left me sort of drowning in a sea of confusion. Sure I'd look around for help from other people, but usually, the very people I reached out to would smack me over the head with a piece of driftwood and shout in my ear, "Good God, man, can't you see I'm drowning too."
So, no more.
Instead of facing life with the uncertainty of a 36-year-old virgin, I've decided to face life with unrelenting decisiveness and courage.
Say, for example, my doctor were to tell me that I had six months to live. I suppose that I could swoon dramatically and collapse into a state of utter self-pity, or maybe I could smile brightly and say, "Jeez, doc, I thought for a minute there you were going to say I had only three months to live."
You see it's not about disaster. Disaster always comes. You simply can't escape that fact. It is, however, about how you face disaster. You can collapse and crumble in the face of hardship, or you can find the resolve to meet every disaster head-on.
Now, don't get me wrong. Resolution is not a solution. That's why there's that little "re-" preface at the front of the word. I am positive, however, that the word "resolution" was constructed by some quick-witted neologist to suggest that resolution is, in fact, the necessary preface to a solution. Without the resolve to confront a problem, well I guess you're running away from it, and if you're running away from it, that nasty old dilemma will never be solved.
So, here's to facing the coming year, not with a whole laundry list of resolutions, but with just simple resolution. I may not be a "better" person in the coming year, but I will be a stronger person.
In strength, there is clarity. In clarity, there is understanding. In understanding, there is hope ... the very "stuff that dreams are made on."
Happy New Year.
