The Start Begins

It's a new era in my life. The sun is shining, Spitalfield is playing, and frankly, I feel great. I didn't cut loose last night. I don't plan to do so in 2011, a New Year's resolution, if you believe in them. I don't think I do. I'm more of a 'change the lifestyle because the old lifestyle isn't helpful to me' type of person. I don't need "1/1/11" to decide, "I'm going to do more of X, I'm going to eat less of Y." or declarations like that. No one keeps their New Year's resolutions. No one remembers what they swore so emphatically today in six months. Why bother?

Instead, I'll go on record and say I am going to have a much better 2011 than 2010. Period. I am going to take the necessary steps to ensure my life is the way I want to live it. I will do so by making small steps in the direction I want to go. I understand fully that some of the decisions I make have an impact on others. Fine. I also understand that I only have one life. This is it. This is the only life I get to live. If I want to live it the way I want, I no longer consider it selfish or self-centered. You, reading this, have that power. Perhaps you consider it too difficult to make a change in your life, that you are firmly entrenched in the patterns and routines that have defined your life. I would rather define my life first, then come up with the patterns and routines that help me carry out how I have defined my life. I see a subtle difference in the way I phrase that concept.

Welcome to 2011. Without a doubt, I feel the most empowered by my disposition and attitude. I am hopeful that the start begins today and carries through for longer than 1 month or 2 months or 3 months. I want it to last so that when I sit in front of this PC on 1/1/2012, I can reread this and think back to what I feel right now and feel comforted by the fact that I did what I said I was going to do in 2011.