Today is December 31, 2011. I am amazed at how the month of December went by in a blink of an eye. Christmas was here and gone. 2012 is knocking on our doors – or in some parts of the world already here. Time really does fly.
The television news programs are doing the annual year-in-review montages, stories on keeping resolutions, and of course the ever-present messages about losing weight and being healthy in the new year. It’s like the media needs to remind us of the good, the bad and the ugly of 2011 and also how horrible we all are at keeping our promises to ourselves, eating our veggies, and getting 45 minutes of moderate activity at least five days a week.
Well, I’d like to make a new tradition on this last day of 2011. I want to resolve to not look back, to only look forward. I want the turning of the calendar to be like I am flipping a page in a book – the book of me and my life. I control whether or not I succeed this year. And succeed does not mean making and keeping resolutions. I like to think of January 1 as the day I set the pace for the next 12 months. I know that the past is not gone just because the calendar has changed but it is that – the past. I can’t undo the extra piece of cake or the less than stellar career progress in 2011 but I can keep my eyes open and mind clear for the adventures and opportunities of 2012.
I recently found this quote from Gilda Radner (of SNL fame) that I think makes great sense:
“Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.”
Here’s to a happy, healthy year ahead!
A Relatively Ordinary Life 