Time to Be Better, Do Better
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
A new year. New beginnings. Think about the past. Move into the future. Look forward. Look back. Time for change. Time for reflection. 2015? A blur. The year of “me.” A time to learn. A time to grow. 2016? An empty page. And mine to write.
So different now. But different can be good. Right? New Year’s. I’d rather look back. Happy times. Look forward? Empty. Lonely. For now. Backwards. Full of memories. Happy times. And lots of love. So for now, I turn that way. Maybe not my best decision. But, for now, I do. 2016. Maybe that will change.
Gregger and I were never big New Year’s Ever’s. We didn’t go for big nights on the town. We loved quiet dinners. Stay home. Glass of wine. Jameson’s on the rocks. Cheers to a good year behind. A better year ahead. Kisses. Lots and lots of kisses. We’d make it ’til the ball dropped. “Somewhere.” Never in our hometown. Never “our” midnight. We conked out. But we made our own fun. And we were happy. It was good enough for us. It was enough. Love. Being together. Sharing. Talking. And reminiscing. Good times. The BEST times.
Funniest New Year’s? 2000. The millennium. The world was supposed to come to an end. Well, mine almost did! Invited to a grand soiree, we decided to go big or go home. So we went big! Dressed to the nines. Ready to party ’til dawn. It was THE PARTY. Full of fun, feast and flair. Only some of the feast did not agree with me. And before midnight hit, I was buried headfirst in the toilet. Violently ill. Not drunk. Food poisoning. UGH! I don’t even remember January 1st, 2000. A foggy dream. I do remember waking on the 2nd to discover a new washer and dryer. Ashley and Gregger had decided that’s what they would do while I was buried under the covers. Why not? When all else fails? Go buy a new washer and dryer.
Other New Year’s. Simple. Family times. Tennis tournaments. Travel. Football. And quiet moments. Or a little crazy. Whatever they were, we were together. That’s all that mattered. And now? I don’t know. I need to figure it out. Where do I want to go? What do I want my life to look like? What do I want to be doing? I’m trying to get there, but some days I feel stuck.
I think about changes. Changes I need to make. Changes I want to make. Resolutions. We all make them. We hear the same old, same old. Eat healthier. Exercise more. Drink less. Spend less. Save more. Wishing and wanting. Ways to improve. To be better, do better. The problem is stick-to-itness. We start. We commit. And then life gets in the way.
Resolutions I’ll never make:
- Give up Starbucks or Peets. Addicted!
- Stop shopping! Never!
- Eat out ALONE. Never! UGH! Can’t do it!
So 2016. Show me the way. Resolutions. Simple. The ones that will make me BE BETTER, DO BETTER every day.
- Be patient. With myself. My kids. Others.
- Be understanding. With myself. My kids. Others.
- Be compassionate. With myself. My kids. Others.
- Be grateful. Life is full of blessings. I just have to take time every day to see them.
- Be 1% better every day. (Thank you Ryan for this great reminder.)
- Smile more.
- Step out of my shell. My box. My comfort zone. (This is the hardest for me.) We’ll check back in 2017.
- Help others. In whatever ways possible. Give a little more. Do a little more.
- Be better. Do better. Push harder. There’s always a better version of me somewhere.
- Find happiness. A new kind. But some kind.
- Reach out and touch. Support. My kids. A friend. My mom. My dad. My siblings. Don’t wait for tomorrow.
- Get a me-makeover. Change is good, right?
- Be present. As much as possible. It’s the road to happiness. The path to peace.
Whatever your plan. Whatever your resolutions. Always do more of what makes YOU happy! Laugh, love and find peace. Be better, do better. Happy New Year 2016!
