So you say you want a resolution?

A New Year, a new chance to start fresh, another opportunity to make to New Year's resolutions.  According to Psychology today magazine, research has shown that, after six months, fewer than half the people who make New Year's resolutions have stuck with them, and, after a year, that number declines to around ten percent. With those kinds of statistics, what's the point of even thinking about New Year's resolutions?

For me it is all about possibilities.  There is something about the beginning of a new year that makes everything seem possible.  We like to have a do over, a chance to erase and start again, an opportunity to pretend we know better and do better.  We like to start the new year off on the right foot, and pray we can keep it up. 

Personally, I have made more resolutions than the average one or two most Americans make.  I have vowed to eat better, exercise more, give more, take less, read more, write more, love more, and generally be a better person. In the New Year, I would like to explore a writing class, a camera class, and maybe even a cooking class.  I would not mind learning how to knit, or play guitar with my daughter.  In 2012, I want to travel to a country I have never been, and see things I have never seen. I also want to repeat some great experiences from the past years, like spend a week at the lake where things are calmer, and we can all relax.  I want to try surfing again because I really like it, and I want my kids to try too.  This year I hope to learn from my children at least as much as I teach them.

Maybe I will achieve some of the goals I set, maybe I will not, but I will try.  The only thing that kills possibility is not even trying. If we do not try for the things we want to do then we will never do them. So I say give it a chance, make a change or continue a good habit already formed. It does not matter what you hope to do, it only matters that you still believe in possibilities, because they are there waiting and ready to believe in you.