New Year’s celebrations have changed for Jilda and me through the years.
There were times we spent New Year’s wearing funny hats, laughing, dancing and over toasting the New Year. Those times were often followed by a day of big hurtful heads and grumpy dispositions.
The years have gone by, our bodies are older, and celebrations are much different. There is still champagne and chocolate involved but as soon as we watch the ball drop, we go to bed.
I love New Year’s. It’s not the color, because with all the bare trees, our world looks like a moonscape in January. High school and college football is over, it’s too cold for festivals and gardening is just a glint in the eye.
But I love the promise that New Year holds, the promise of all you can imagine.
That’s the key, imaging that life will be better.
It’s not to say that life isn’t already a gift, but it is my nature to always want to do better, be better and improve my life.
I have read a great deal and attended many seminars on this topic, I am not an expert, but I can say with confidence I know a thing or two about self-improvement.
The key to a better you, is to lose old habits that take you nowhere and form new ones that can take you anywhere.
Jim Rohn said, “ A few bad habits repeated daily spells failure. Conversely, a few good habits repeated daily leads to success.” The first time I read those words, it was empowering. I knew that small changes in my behavior could mean the difference between failure and success and that I guide my future.
Not long after reading Rohn’s book, I took advantage of the company’s generous tuition-aid plan and headed back to college. I soon received a promotion at work. I went on to get my master’s degree, and I kept moving up at work.
Every New Year’s I spend a fair amount of time thinking of my goals, I do a mind-map and write out my resolutions. I often record my resolutions and put them on a cd so that I can listen to them throughout the year. I try to hold myself accountable to my goals and monthly I review them and think about ways to obtain them.
New Year’s is such a special time; it brings to us a clean slate. It is an opportunity to look back and learn from mistakes, to think about what is important to you and what you want to achieve in the future. New Year’s gives us an excuse to change our lives for the better, to be better humans.
Happy New Year.
