Keep Telling Yourself That

Here it comes, that time of year where you promise yourself that you are going to lose weight, be nicer, work harder, save more money, sky dive or whatever. The thing is, if you really wanted to do all of this, if you were serious about making a resolution and keeping it, then what is the point of waiting? Why is January 1st the end all, be all of trying to be a better person, a more daring person, the person you ultimately want to be? What happens if you try your resolution and come February you fail, then what? You spend the rest of the year doing the same thing as last, feeling comfort in the fact you can give it another shot in about ten months. And you are okay with this because hey, at least you tried?

Well, I call bullshit.

It's a lovely thought but be honest. You have intentions. Admirable intentions but intending to do something is frankly a more inspiring way of saying, I'm just going to sit on my ass until I figure out what I want to do. People don't change overnight. You don't wake up after a champagne-filled, confetti-laced night ready to dominate the world, you just don't.

You only intend to.

The challenge that we face is to accept that we're not going to be everything we want to be in a day. We're going to make mistakes. We're going to do things we aren't supposed to. We're going to talk ourselves out of rational thought for the sake of short-term fun. I think we should make the effort to try to accept this. Look back at where you've been this past year, what you've gained and what you've lost and most importantly, what you've learned. Make a top ten list of the things you've learned. Better yet, make a top ten list of the best times you had. Figure out the people who were involved when these things happened and try to keep them around. Act like you're going to live in the moment but realize that this is virtually impossible without reliving your past or worrying about your future. Revisit old times, go back and do it again if you must but don't go the same way. Imagine where you want to be in five years but realize that a security plan only works for people who believe security equals happiness, which I'm sorry to say it doesn't.

There are things you may feel are unfinished from 2007, things you want to say or do or take back or change. You want all of this to be magically resolved by January 1, 2008 and this will not happen. Even if you do stick to some of your resolutions, just remember that it's okay to gain back the weight you lost. It's okay to overspend and do reckless things and never sky dive. Because there are more chances then New Year's Day to be a better person. You will have more than one chance....

to prove it.