While I get the same “fresh start feeling” with New Years that I get every morning, there is still something more epic about the beginning of a new year, or a new decade.
Life goes by fast. Not original but true. It’s hard to imagine that all the craziness about the millennium change was 10 years ago. What have we done with 10 years? Looking back can give us perspective and maybe a little motivation as we face the future.
Before we take Paul’s counsel of “forgetting those things that are behind,” let’s do just enough remembering to avoid repeating pitfalls of 2009 in 2010. What did you learn this year? Pick up any new good habits? What were you not satisfied with in your life as you rolled into 2009, and what have you done about it? What plans are you making for 2010 to be any different?
Seriously, how would your life benefit by changing the way you do something? Beyond the “eat better” and “get more exercise” and “pray more” kind of resolutions, what difference will you make in 2010? How will the world be a better place because you were here this year? On December 31, 2010, what will you point to and say, “Ta-Da! I did it!”
If not now, when? Sitting in a retirement home someday, looking back at life, I think it will be more rewarding to say, “I tried,” or, “I did,” than a mournful, “I wish I had.”
So redeem the time, and GO FOR IT in 2010! Climb that mountain. Visit the kids. Write that book. See the country, or maybe the world. Memorize that piece. Learn to play an instrument. Make 12 new friends or just one. Take that class. Paint—draw—sculpt—photograph. Help someone. Give something away. Clean out a closet. Re-arrange your furniture. Take that big risk. Engage. Decide for no vicarious or voyeuristic living. Watch a one hour travel log or educational video for every two hours of news. Laugh a lot. Meditate. Move. etc. etc. etc. etc.
When you make a mistake on your journey through 2010 (and you will make mistakes), follow Ben Zander’s counsel: Just throw your arms up in the air and say, “How fascinating,” and move on! Only dead people are through making mistakes. So take a risk, and GO FOR IT – whatever “IT” is on your list for 2010.
Andy McDonald
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