New Year, Same Me

Roughly eight days ago millions of people around the world rang in the New Year with food, champagne, friends, and a feeling of renewal.  There's always such a profound sense of excitement in that minute before the huge ball drops in Times Square, isn't there?  I always find myself with such a sense of anticipation, as if the dropping of the ball and the ticking of the clock over to midnight will bring about this immense change in everything, and in myself.  Of course, this is all wishful thinking.  Ringing in the New Year is not synonymous to instantaneous change, because at 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 2010, things were exactly the same for me as they had been at 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 2009.

Maybe it's the pessimist in me that wants to dwell on this fact, or perhaps I'm just being a realist.  But I don't think that a new year automatically means things will be any different for anyone.  The fact of the matter is, one has to decide to make things different for themselves.  Which brings us to those lovely little sentiments known as New Year's Resolutions.  I don't always make resolutions, because I don't like to put myself in the mind set that I have to wait for the New Year to decide to make changes in my life.  And yet it is tempting.....a new year, a clean slate, a chance to do things differently right off the bat.  So this year I allowed myself to make not so much some resolutions, but more or less some rules to live by.  They are as follows:

1.  Attempt to be less judgemental of others and their actions (I say attempt because being judgemental is a part of human nature, and I seriously doubt I could ever stop it completely).

2.  Write every day.  Whether it is on this blog, in my journal, on a short story, or a grocery list (okay, that's stretching it). 

3.  Stop feeling bad about things I think I "should" be doing, especially if I know I don't enjoy them.

4.  Stop judging myself on things that have happened in my past, and focus only on the future.

It's a short list, but one which I think makes sense for me and will contribute greatly to my overall happiness.  In all honesty I have not officially started these resolutions.  Until today they have just been thoughts floating around in my mind, but now that they're in writing it somehow feels more official.  So I guess today is the day......and at the moment I'm off to a pretty good start.