THIS NEW YEAR

Happy new year everyone, i am super excited to be writing again, after taking such a long break.

I do love the idea of a fresh start, a new page, a chance to do it again . . . .  that's why i sometimes call the new year A RE BEGINNING. For me, the new year is always an opportunity to say to myself " do it again"

Another cool thing about the new year is that, because its a fresh page, it has lots of lines to write on, so when you find at the end of a line, that a mistake was made, you cancel and go to the next line.

I asked a friend yesterday if he had any new year resolutions, and he just smirked like i was being silly. so i told him i understood why he thought that was funny, no one makes resolutions anymore, they are old school and since people realised they are never able to do or not do whatever the resolution was, we all stopped making them. Then I asked a different question, I asked if he had any specific goals for the year, any targets he had set etc and he said yes. Then I asked again if he had new year resolutions and he said yes.

A resolution is really nothing more than having a resolve to do something, a firm determination for something to be done!


I would be worried if i knew anyone who has decided to let the year pass without doing something different or something better than last year. Short of someone wiping your slate clean and turning back the hands of time, the new year is one of the best opportunities to start afresh.


I have a number of "resolutions", small things really but its a decision nevertheless. Stuff like praying a bit more, doing one nice thing for someone everyday(i am proud to say i have kept this one so far), appreciating the people and things i have.......


Did i leave out exercising?


The one thing though about resolutions is that they involve an action. TO DO, you will hardly come across a definition of the word, at least in this sense, without to do, to be done, a plan to do etc showing up!


What I've realised is that we make these resolutions and literally leave them where they drop! Without any action; any conscious, preplanned course of action, resolutions are no different from making wishes. It won't do you any good.


So I know some folks(like me) have been making the same resolutions over and over again, we even decided not to call them resolutions again. I mean that's redundant. But truly a spade by any other name is still a spade, so lets just call a spade, a spade!

Last year your new year resolution was to stop smoking, and you did.
For the first four days. After that you just forgot about it and continued as usual.

One thing I've come to realise is that good things, most times, don't come easy but we give up too easily.  Forming a bad habit is probably one of the easiest things to do, forming a good one or leaving a bad one is hard.

Some resolutions are solo efforts, where you require no external assistance. Some aren't. Those ones simply cannot be done alone, without a support group (could be just one person) it might be impossible to achieve. What do you imagine AA(ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS) aims to achieve.

I always tell my "smoker" friends to stop hanging out with fellow smokers if they really want to quit, and hang out with folks who don't, but that seems like a crazy idea!

I mentioned being grateful as one of my new year resolutions and i couldn't think of a better way to be reminded of that decision than to see it everyday on my blackberry (and i look at my blackberry a lot). My status on BBM says ABOUNDING IN THANKSGIVING, each time i see that i think of a reason to be thankful and so far its working. Not so crazy, very simple really but effective nonetheless.


My point is, to achieve whatever you set out to do this year, you need to do something different from what you had done previously or to do something better than you had done before. It might be something totally crazy or something extremely simple but something must be done!


I put it to you(debate language) that the simple formula for achieving that new year resolution is
A PLAN (SOMETHING DIFFERENT or SOMETHING BETTER) + A CONSTANT REMINDER . Some formulae might even include A SUPPORT GROUP

It won't be easy, I imagine there will be days i feel like there is no reason to be thankful or I'm not feeling particularly nice, but I will keep at it. Even if I missed out for a while, I will "do it again"

So, if you are like me and have a new year resolution, to quit smoking, to get out of an abusive relationship, to get a new job, to pray more.......... whatever it is, keep at it and when you didn't, do it again. Its like saying, oh I didn't write in my diary for the past week so I won't bother writing again! That's just ridiculous.


Have any new year resolutions to share, or the craziest resolutions you've ever made? Leave me a comment!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!