New Year's Resolutions and Reflections

The holidays (the longest in my entire professional life) are over and we all went back to

this dull reality that life does revolve around work... work... work... Aaaarrrrggghh!!!

And it is only now that the terrible toll that the festive season has taken on my wallet suddenly dawned on me. Did my kids and I really shop for all of those things? Yikes! What was I thinking???

Okay, so I get a fresh start. And since it's time for resolutions, top on my list is to earn back a.s.a.p. what I splurged during the Christmas season. The rest are from my last year's list, such as:

I will minimize, if not completely quit, smoking.
I will lose 10 lbs. in 3 months.
I will start walking again and go back to the gym.
I will sleep early (not later than 11 pm) and wake up early (not later than 6:30 am).
No more alcohol.
I will be more patient and more tolerant of my kids' antics.
I will listen more to my kids.

But then, the new year is not only a time for resolutions. This is a period of reflection as well. In a wonderful post entitled "Standing In The Universe" that Terry of the The Cheap Seats wrote, he posed a number of simple questions that will help us analyze who we are and where we are going, what we have and what we need.


"The idea is to think about them and give yourself an honest answer. Of course there are no wrong answers unless you are trying to fool yourself. And if you are, that alone speaks volumes as to where you are at.

Here we go.

Who are you?

Do you like who you are?

Who do you want to be, what is it that you must change?

What do you stand for?

What is your passion?

Who are the people that you love?

Why?

Do the people you love, love you?

Why/why not?

When people know you, do they really know you?

Is the place that you rest your head, your “home”?

If not where is “home” and do you want to be there?

If so, why are you not there?

When you wake up, do you go to the job that your really want to do?

If not, what are you doing to change that?

Is your family close to your heart?

If not why?

Who do you love?

Can you love them better?

Do they love you?

Can they love you better?

If you can love them better, why don’t you?

What do you want?

How will you get it?

What is important to you?

Who do you fight with?

Why do you fight with them?

What do you need?

What do you want?

Why don't you have it?

Are you happy or are you sad?

Why?

Are you smiling or are you crying?

Why?

What will make you better tomorrow than you are today?

These are all simple questions. Not anything earth shattering or overly introspective. They are just ones I think we all have to ask from time to time.

But I will admit, when answering them for myself, I’m not always happy with my answers."


Terry is right. I don't like some of my answers. I think it's best that I keep them to myself.

Happy New Year to everyone!