I’ve never been one to make New Year Resolutions.
However, I see value in looking back, not with the intent to cling to or live in the past, rather with the intent to consider who I have been for the past year. Through an analytical lens, I question: Am I who I want to be? Based on my actions, what kind of person am I? Can I do better? What characteristics or qualities would I like to incorporate into my personality?
I have yet to find that I’m who I want to or aspire to be; my actions, when I’m totally honest, show me that I’m not quite as kind and accepting as I thought I was, and I can always do better.
There’s no point in beating ourselves up over what we uncover. Perhaps we aren’t loving enough, patient enough, creative enough, or compassionate. The importance lies in the simple act of looking—really looking—at who we are. Only when we know where we’re at and where we want to be, we can chart our course and take off in the direction of our dreams for 2013.
New Year is a time of new beginnings—forgiving ourselves, forgiving others. A time of hope. A time of possibility. A time to review the past and set a path for the future.
No resolutions. No promises. Just a direction—a place to set our compass and begin. Storms will arise; obstacles will stand in our way; priorities will change. It’s okay. We pick ourselves up and celebrate mini-new-years throughout 2013: looking to the past, setting our course, and beginning again and again.
Not a resolution, rather a journey always changing, always hopeful, always filled with new possibilities. And at the end of the year, we’ll know we did our best with who we were and what we had. Then we begin again—steering our course in the direction of our dreams.
