A Resolution

“Your success and happiness lies in you.  Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.”  ~Helen Keller

I really love New Years.  I love the promise of a clean slate and the hope that is foreshadowed in resolutions.  Last year I had 27 of them and  I’m not sure if that means I’m overly-zealous in my resolutioning, or just that I have a lot of room for improvement.  I only accomplished 16 so I’m coming off a meager 60% success rate, but I suppose 16 resolutions met is 16 more than none.  Maybe having 27 New Years Resolutions is a little crazy, but I’m the person with the list-making obsession so it seems perfectly natural to me.

This year I’ve decided on 28 resolutions.  It includes things like writing new stories, posting more blogs (obviously), finally organizing that filing cabinet, making time for more community service, completing the Scrapbook projects (that I didn’t get to last year), practicing the piano more, running a half-marathon, bumping up the college savings, finally setting up a Family Trust, reading Moby Dick,  and of course, planning another National Park Road Trip.

Yes, it’s a long list, but ultimately it all boils down to just one thing…

Be Better.

Somehow, our judgmental natures tend to  label the very optimism inherent in a New Years Resolution with doubt and folly and pessimism, and I’m not sure why.  No matter how many resolutions we fail to achieve, it shouldn’t cast a shadow on the hope of a new year, or on our desire to make change happen, or on our efforts to be better.  It’s ok that we all feel a little more motivated than usual on January 1, and if our lists help us accomplish those goals, what does it matter?  The new year is a great opportunity to shed a little of the cynicism of adulthood and uncover some of the optimism we felt in our youth, walking across that stage with diploma in hand, ready to take on the world.

We all have projects we want to accomplish, places we want to see, books we want to read, career moves we want to make, and health goals we want to achieve.  Maybe this is the year you put it on a list (make sure it’s measurable) and see what you can make happen in a year.

What are some of your new years resolutions?

Here’s to a fabulous New Year!
~Cassie

workspace edited
My lovely new workspace for making it all happen this year!

2 thoughts on “A Resolution”

  1. If there is anyone I know who can accomplish what they set out to do, it is you. What a beautiful work space to emerge yourself into more writing! I am probably the opposite concerning goal setting…I have not actually thought of any resolutions yet, but there have been a few things we’ve set in motion for this year that will help us in our goals , like finally finishing my degree which has taken me almost seven years… and Josh and I are extremely excited to be able to start trying for children this year. I love your line above, “…shed a little of the cynicism of adulthood….” Though this virtue can be put to good use, it often hinders a childlike joy and excitement for life that can inspire us into accomplishing great things indeed. Thanks for sharing. Your post was a pleasure to read.

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