The New Year Brings New Opportunities

Sparkle on like the star that you are.

It's January 1, 2019 and the New Year is officially upon us.  For me, the new year has always meant broken promises and commitments.  Don't get me wrong:  I love the concept of a new year; a fresh start, a clean slate.  But the reality is not so cut-and-dry.  I am, in fact, a product of my previous years with 2018 serving as the greatest influence as to what I will do in 2019.  My bad habits and, oh, are there many, will be with me when I wake up in the morning.  The garage will still be a mess.  My finances will be kind-of-sort-of organized (but never quite in the way I want them to be).  Several books will continue to collect dust on the bookshelf.  Knowing this, how will I choose to approach my new year?  I will bring the optimism that only a new year can bring and pair it with a desperately-needed warm cup of coffee.  And when the optimism and caffeine wear off?  It's at that point -- whether it be a day from now or a month from now -- that I will have a decision to make.  Will I give into the gravitational forces of my old, bad habits?  Or will I try like hell to make sure that I move forward with a force greater than the weight and burden of years' past?  The plan I've set to get me through that moment is fairly simple and predicated on four principles:

Purpose.

Do everything deliberately.  Do whatever you're going to do, but do it on purpose.  Even the simplest of things.  Brush your teeth with intent.  Know why and what you're doing, even if the reasons are simple.  Goof off with purpose -- with the purpose to rest.  Being purposeful does not mean being productive at all moments of the day; no one can do that.  

Persistence.

Keep going.  No, seriously--keep going.  It's not that hard.  Find the right time to do things, but keep going.  Keep doing them.  Know why you get up in the morning and keep going.  Don't let negativity sit in your mind for too long; process those feelings and move on.  Keep moving.  If you're like me and you have several projects that are halfway finished, tackle those items first until they're done.  See them, and everything you do, to completion.

Patience.

Things will go wrong and we don't have to be inconvenienced by those events.  Are they inconvenient?  Absolutely.  But after this many years on earth, we must come to expect the unexpected.  Things will break.  Things will go wrong.  It is inevitable.  We are capable enough, however, to overcome these events.  We are strong enough, we are patient enough.  Let these things happen and trust in your ability to deal with these things.  

Posture.

I want to pay special attention to the way I hold my head, my eyes, my body in each and every moment.  Am I demonstrating a position of strength or weakness?  Posture is the the simplest way to control whether I feel powerful in any given moment.  I will not be able to control what happens in 2019 -- there will be the inevitable challenges.  But I can control my posture going into those moments.

Some of the thoughts above could benefit from further clarification and editing.  That will come in time.  But 2019 is not the year of waiting until the right moment to do something.  It's about getting started today, staying on track, and finishing the job.  A new year brings a new opportunity.  Make the most of it.