Another New Year's Eve is upon us, along with that pressure to make all these resolutions that last for about a month (if you're really committed) and then are forgotten until the next New Year when you look at your old resolutions and see that you forgot to resolve any of them: you're still overweight, you're still single, and you're still nowhere near becoming a millionaire.
Looking back over my last journal, I don't even think I made resolutions - most likely because I knew I wouldn't follow through with them and really didn't want to fuss with the guilt. (Honesty is the best policy.) However, I am about ten pounds lighter than last year; I've picked up another job since last year; I have travelled pretty extensively this year for my budget and occupation; I have become more confident and (to be honest - best policy, you know) loud - DESPITE not making any forma resolution to do any of these things. I haven't read the Bible all the way through in a year, but a few weeks ago one chapter opened my eyes about what it's all about. (Romans 4 - go read it. RIGHT NOW.) I made less of a resolution and more of a goal to write more letters, try more things, meet different people, see new places, and it's been INCREDIBLE. I am more comfortable doing things alone than I have been in years.
May I venture to say - and you'll know this is a big deal if you've been keeping up with my journals - this year I've been happy. And I think it has a lot to do with my conscious effort to look outside myself and focus on other people. It's been BRILLIANT.
If I were to make any effort at a resolution for this new year, I would keep it very broad: be brave and be happy. This is the year I've been anticipating for forever - I'm graduating and closing yet another chapter in my formal education. Thus the call to be brave, to be ready and open to anything that will happen. And as to the being happy part...basically making an effort to make that a priority. Instead of looking at the flies in my bank account and the not-socially-preferred number on my scales and that relationship status on my Facebook (I always hide that to make myself feel better), I will make an effort to embrace all of those things, make the most of where I am right now, and be excited with the way my life is going, while also changing things the things that don't need to be there.
I will be writing about that last one a little later - another entry to come.
Happy New Year, dear friends. Auld Lang Syne (which I still don't know what that means but it's always fitting to say at New Year), happy drinking (if that's your thing), BE SAFE (because that should be everybody's thing), and wishing you all a happy 2014. :)
