Sunday, February 12, 2012

The New Year - 2012

"New Year's Day... now is the accepted time to make
your regular annual good resolutions.
Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual."
- Mark Twain

It's a new year!  With it comes the promise of new opportunities and changes.

I've never been one to make resolutions each year.  Making a resolution to do things differently and then not doing them is great for one's self esteem.  WELL, I'm going to do things differently this year. 

What happened in 2011?  I did make a few goals but not at the beginning of the year.  I'm surprised to see that into the new year, I've actually gotten close to those goals.  The first was that I wanted to loose weight.  To date, I've now lost a little over 50 lbs!  I also decided I needed to learn how to swim.  A few lessons and some time in my sister's pool, I can now swim 10 feet without splashing around and sinking!  

I'm still not going to make any resolutions, but I am going to make some goals.

What is a goal?  Well, the official definition for a goal is: "An observable and measurable end result having one or more objectives to be achieved within a more or less fixed time frame."  Sounds perfectly reasonable, right?

Remember the old adage, If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time?  That's why the idea of having and setting goals makes much more sense that making resolutions.  I'm converting ideas and wishes into specific, measurable targets.

What are these goals?  I've made a list of 40 for 2012.  Why 40?  Last year I turned forty years old (that will be a whole different post) and thought it just made sense to make 40 goals!

So here they are: (Some might be repetitive...try coming up with 40 for yourself!)

  1. Pursue Happiness! (Currently I'm reading The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama)
  2. Try harder
  3. Eat better.  More organic, natural, healthy, purposeful.
  4. Drink more water, less soda
  5. Exercise again
  6. Start taking vitamins and supplements again
  7. Get outdoors more: camping, hiking, sunrises, sunsets, moonrise.
  8. Run, walk, stroll, take more breaks
  9. Organize office and work less
  10. Photograph more, learn more about it, study light and exposure
  11. Write more and more often
  12. Handle money better and save more, find more free stuff
  13. Read more!
  14. Volunteer and help others
  15. Organize self, home, life.
  16. Skydive
  17. Learn a new skill…
  18. Continue to practice Swimming
  19. Find the ONE and fall in love
  20. Learn to Meditate
  21. Travel more
  22. Forget...
  23. Be more open/honest
  24. Solve world hunger…tell no one!
  25. Stop the destructive thoughts that always lead down into depression
  26. Don’t start smoking
  27. Make bolder decisions
  28. Stop procrastinating
  29. Renew my wardrobe
  30. Finish a novel/novella
  31. Buy a Harley Davidson
  32. Update the blog regularly
  33. Connect better with friends
  34. Be carefree
  35. Hang loose, live free! Shaka!
  36. Be more tolerant
  37. Learn French
  38. Win lottery, BIG
  39. Garden more, grow more vegetables and fruits
  40. Have FUN!
 There they are.  Will I meet all of them?  I'll let you know January 2013.  But until then, I've got a lot of work and a lot of fun to accomplish this year!