The world isn’t great right now. There is tension and stress woven everywhere we look. There are days it feels like it’s a rubber band pulled too tight and it’s about to break. But I don’t want to carry those things with me into the new year. I don’t want to hold on to negative energy. I want to change my energy in the new year. I want to hold on to the positive. See the good everywhere I look. Smile at strangers. Believe in kindness and understanding first. Carry with me good, and spread it to others. I want to be the change I want to see. Instead of watching in horror as things get worse around us, let’s all think of ten things we can better around us in the new year. Ten ways we can change. And I don’t mean paying it forward with gifting a drink to someone in Starbucks. For the most part everyone in line at Starbucks can afford to be there, so endless gifting of drinks doesn’t change anyone’s life. Sure it’s a nice gesture, but pointless when it becomes a chain as everyone is still buying a drink just essentially paying for something different. Do something for someone who can never pay you back. This doesn’t even require money. There are so many ways to give your time. Volunteering is one of them. There are also so many ways to do this. It doesn’t have to be at a soup kitchen, it can be for suicide prevention, or vets, it can be in a hospital, an old folks home. Some of those people have no family or friends left, and spend day in and day out alone with no one to talk to. There are charities who could always use volunteers. There are political campaigns who need people to stuff envelopes and make calls. There is always a need for advocates for foster kids. And so many more things I’m not even thinking of.
I have never set a New Years resolution. For a long time, as an avid gym goer, I’ve hated how crowded January is at the gym. All the regulars know we have to endure a few weeks at the beginning of the year where everything is over packed with people who don’t really know what they are doing, getting in the way. And that’s not to say some of those people don’t become regulars. I’ve seen people make huge changes with fitness and completely transform their bodies, but the majority don’t stick with it past a few weeks. I think it’s because a lot of us set unrealistic goals for the new year. We do it with good intentions, and with every plan of keeping them, but life doesn’t always allow for them. Big dreams are amazing, and everyone should have them, but we should also give ourselves a break and have attainable goals. Break things down into pieces. Make sure you succeed, and then when you blow past your goal, really celebrate.
I don’t know why it seems so important to me to make a resolution, maybe it’s something to do with getting old. Maybe it’s about keeping promises to myself in a more defined way. I could self analyze forever, but I won’t. Tell me some of your resolutions.
My favorite books of 2018
The power of habit.
Ready Player One
Watch of the Dragon King
The Good news about bad behavior
What if it’s us.
A Court of Frost and Starlight
Wolfsong
The Hate You Give
The Rifter Series
So Much More
Favorite podcasts of 2018
More Perfect
Science VS
The Last Podcast on the Left
Bear Brook
Lore
Armchair Expert
Up and Vanished
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