New Life Resolution

As a new year begins, we begin to make promises to ourselves. Set goals. Most of the time they are something like “I want to be a better person” or “I’m going to start exercising to lose weight.” Sounds good, right?  It’s easier to tell someone, or even yourself, that you are going to do these things than to actually do it. I’ve been guilty of it many times over. I start things, tell myself I’m going to make something of it, then drop it when it gets hard or after I’m bored with it.

I write this as a promise and a reminder to myself.

I have set into motion a new life resolution. Not one that I start and then stop after a short period of time. A permanent one. A new vision for who I am and what I want the future to look like.

It began with a hard look in the mirror. I saw myself as a pessimist. I didn’t like the way people, as a whole, made me feel. I was fed up with the two-faced, the judgmental, the brown nose, the wal-mart shopper, the bum, the preacher, the facebooker, the redneck, the holier than thou. I thought, “Why can’t people just be better people, treat others how they want to be treated, and show some common respect and courtesy?” It took me along time to find the answer to that question. After I looked in the mirror, I saw that I was all of those people that I was so fed up with. People default to serving their own interests. A self-centered mentality is engrained into us from childhood. It originates from a survival instinct that is inherent to every species on the planet. As a self-centered person, I judged these people and rated them based upon my own false image of myself. After this realization, I put away all the negativity, saw people for the good instead of the bad, and became an optimist.

What does this have to do with setting goals or making promises?

For some people that have this figured out, nothing. But for others that have struggled with it like me, it’s about changing yourself to find your calling.

When I had the realization that I wanted to become a writer, I knew I had to change the things I didn’t like about myself. How could I have a positive outlook and remained consistent if I held onto the negativity? I wouldn’t have. I would have failed already. After making the change, I knew writing was what I was called to do. It started as a way to make money and get out of the job that I had been in for so long. I’ve read quite a few books, and I told myself “I could do that.” I put pen to pad during my breaks and fell in love with something I never knew was there. Yes, I am a beginner – but, like anything in life, practice makes perfect. Once a passion is found, the only one that can stop you is you.

So my new life resolution is this:

1. Stay optimistic and see the good in the world despite the hard times
2. Speak clearly and leave no doubt or hidden meanings/agendas to my motives
3. Keep an open mind and be honest in all things
4. Learn to listen more and speak less
5. Stay committed and persist through any doubt/fear

It’s human nature to find the easy way out. No commitments. No promises. There is safety in what you know or what’s comfortable. I challenge you to make a new life resolution. Change the things about yourself that you don’t like. Find something that interests you, or try something new and stick with it. No matter how many people say that you can’t do it, or that’s stupid. Stick with it. A majority of people in this world would say that they are not doing what they want to do. They have not found their calling. That’s the hardest part. Not knowing what you want. It took me thirty years to find it, and I stubbled upon it by accident. With the internet today, all the knowledge of mankind, passed down through the ages, could be had at the press of a button. Isn’t it about time we stopped wasting it?

Make a new life resolution, and trust me, you won’t regret it.

What are some interests that you had but dropped along the way? If you could do one thing as a job/career, what would it be? Why would it be that and what aspects of life would it open up?