Resolve

Happy New Year.

Yes, I know it’s March. Yes, I realise New Years is generally celebrated on the first day of a new year, but yesterday kind of felt like it was mine. My 2010 hasn’t felt particularly different to 2009 in any way – except for being busier, much more intense and slightly more difficult.

So I figure if other people can celebrate Christmas in July, then I can celebrate New Years in March. And whilst I didn’t crack out the party poppers and streamers yesterday, I did have a little think about what I want out of this year.

Generally, when the clock strikes and a new year dawns, people make resolutions. Often they are silly, unrealistic resolutions that are dropped within a week of being created.

But when you’ve had two and a half months to reflect and think and dream you can make assured and serious resolutions that you’ll stick to. So that’s exactly what I did.

I sat down and had a jolly good think about what I want; not just in 2010, but beyond. I reflected on my actions, my attitude, my choices and my mindset. And it was in considering those exact factors that I created a list of resolutions. Because it’s so easy to resolve to lose weight, or get a new job, or buy a new car, but it’s not as easy to decide to change something about your character – things that are learned or ingrained.

So here is my list of resolutions, some of which may seem mundane or make no sense at all to you, but mean very much to me. And in writing them I realised that perhaps we should try and hold our own mini new years celebrations whenever we can – because there needn’t be a celebration required to re-assess where we’re at and where we want to go.

Sorry is one of those words I overuse. It’s quite a powerful word (look how long it took the Australian Government to say it) so I only want to use it in times of sincerity. Because so often when I say it I’m not.

Why is it that we always have time for a passerby? Why do we speak in our polite voice on the phone to a stranger? It’s true that we are often the most ‘real’ versions of ourselves when we’re with our family and closest friends. Let’s be honest; they won’t disown us for being grumpy, or be offended if we’re rude. They accept us for who we are. I want to put more effort into being nice to the people I see the most -those that see me in my most stressed and vulnerable moments – and I’m going to care less (and put much less effort) into those that I barely know.

I’m no stranger to a debate, in fact I love one. And I’m certainly not short of opinions. But sometimes I find myself agreeing with someone because it’s easier. But things weren’t always meant to be easy. And while I agree in picking and choosing your battles, I’m now much more resigned to saying what I think – and being entirely honest and direct about it.

I spoke about the importance of this in my last column. If we’re not selfish, we’ll never achieve anything we want to, because we’ll be too busy rushing around pleasing everyone else. It’s often so much harder to spend time on ourselves – but we need to. If you want to be of any use to anyone else in life, you’ve got to be useful yourself.

What resolutions did you make for 2010? Have you stuck to them?

It’s never too late to start…