A Brand New Year To Live

 by: Marta Dodd

Have you ever started a new year with a New Years resolution? I think many of us have, whether it is to be nicer to family, to be a better friend, co-worker, or even to start that long-awaited diet. Have you ever noticed by the 3rd week or so, you just don’t have the motivation or inspiration to keep it up? I can’t recall one year that I have kept all of my resolutions. That could very well be a lack of motivation or just the fact that some of my resolutions are just unreasonable. This year I think it would be best to not make one at all. With the great hype of this last year being the first of the Millennium, its safe for me to assume it doesn’t really get easier, just more work with even more challenges. Now that’s not a bad thing just something I will need to put more work into. So how will I plan for this upcoming year? I’m not going to this time around. Why make the big plans that require all my energy so that when “life happens” I only get disappointed. This year is going to be different. I’ve endured so much this last year, things that I didn’t plan to experience. My mother’s untimely death, and the ever pending duty of not finding true love for the 8th year in a row. Sure I’ve given it a whirl, but in the end being alone has faired to be the easiest and safest all around. And I’m starting to see that it is ok to walk the road of single parenting as long as I keep my focus on the kids and try my hardest to not let them down. I have grown enough to see that through life we don’t change into different people each year, we just mature in the way we see things differently. I can only appreciate each new thing I learn each and every day. It doesn’t take a New Millennium or a New Year to see that which affects our every day life affects our attitudes and the way we live. Thank God for new beginnings whether it’s today, tomorrow or a week from now. You have the ability to make changes in your life that will ultimately affect your tomorrow. Consider your choices a grinded stone that you could easily use to sharpen your life or turn your dreams and goals to dust. The choice is yours, are you ready to live?