Ushering in the New Year

I'm not really a big believer in new year's resolutions. To quote Mary Poppins, "That's a piecrust promise. Easily made, easily broken." I DO believe in setting goals and improving oneself, of course. But I don't think one should wait until January 1 each year to do so. If you see an area that needs improvement, then by all means, make a goal and do it!

I am not against turning over new leaves for the new year, though. I just don't believe in limiting myself to setting goals one time a year. I think any new whatever can be an auspicious beginning for positive change - a new month, week, day.

Having said that, I'm not above recognizing that a new year is a great landmark and milestone to recognize and acknowledge accomplishments and reflect on areas of improvement. It's about putting the past behind you and looking forward to the future with hope and gentle anticipation of good things to come.

There are several things I'm looking forward to in 2013. There are four concerts I have tickets for that will make it my almost-perfect concert year: P!nk, Imagine Dragons, and Muse are things I'm eagerly anticipating and bought tickets for some time ago. For Christmas I received tickets for "Drumline Live," which I imagine will be a thumping, lively good time - right up my alley.

I am also busily training for the half-marathon I signed up to run in March, and when that is complete, will switch gears (hahaha) to getting ready for the Huntsman 140 I will ride with my sister(s). We're still not sure if we'll do the full 140 or the 75-mile version, but do it we will.

Those are events to attend, to particpate in, to prepare for - but they don't really speak to change or improvement. Well, the physical ones do - I will become a better runner and cyclist, but becoming more physically fit doesn't necessarily guarantee becoming a better person. And let's face it - that's what change and goals are all about.

I heard a quote the other day on a TV show that was credited to Jim "Jimmy V" Valvano, a famous NCAA basketball coach (I guess. Not famous to me, but that's because I don't closely follow NCAA sports).

“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.”

Laugh. Think. Cry.

I like that a lot. If I were to make a new year's resolution, this would be the one.  Sometimes I feel like I might just be going through the motions each day during a week looking forward to the next thing. But if I were to find something to laugh about (not AT - an important distinction), a thought that would improve my life in some way, and have an emotionally moving experience each day - what kind of a wonderful year would that be?

Amazing, I think.