New Beginnings

If you’re like me and most of the breathing population, you understand how the resolutions we make at the beginning of each year fall into the “good intentions” folder of our busy lives. Each January, I say I’m not going to make a promise that I know I won’t keep, and yet I still succumb to the new year concept of new beginnings. I get it. A new year equals a fresh start, and thus, I find myself with a superhero-like mentality that I can do anything. Enter new promises.

And there I was again just a few short weeks ago, promising to do x, y and z.

While I have every hope of keeping these promises, this time I have something to help me stay focused. I am an avid reader, and something I have read over and over is how people need to have a goal to stay on task. 

Examples are: setting a timer for a project you are working on, or signing up for an athletic event, (like a 5k) every few months to renew your purpose of running.

That last idea is one I have chosen for myself. In an effort to get into shape, I signed up for an obstacle course in March. While this initially seemed like a crazy idea to me, I decided to just go for it. Now, I’m a few weeks into my training, and beginning to feel like this “crazy idea” might actually be what I needed to keep me focused. And, strangely enough, I am starting to look forward to this event, even if it is just to say that “I did it.”

Whatever your resolution is for 2012, don’t give up on it. Even if you slip up and forget your promise to wake up the first time the morning alarm goes off, remember you still have tomorrow. And the next day. Each day can be a new beginning and a chance to re-ignite your intentions.

Find what will keep you on track and you will be able to later say, “I did it.”