Congratulations! You have made it into the second week of a new year. How did your first week go? Did you come into this year with resolutions that you are keeping? Or perhaps you are like me and don’t make new year resolutions at all. In either case, you have successfully made it past the first week and are now settling into 2018.
I hope that it is going well so far. I hope you are holding to your new ideals and changes. If, for some reason, you haven’t done it successfully so far; don’t get down on yourself. It happens. Just remember that every day is a chance to start again. A chance to make a difference in your life or in someone else’s life. A golden opportunity to start the day fresh. Just think of it as daily “do overs”. That doesn’t mean you should set out to purposefully screw up the day. It means that if you don’t happen to quite achieve what you set out to do you shouldn’t be so hard and down on yourself that you are paralyzed and give up.
Take advantage of what you feel you didn’t do right and analyze it, so you can make changes. Check out what you have done right and wrong and use it to improve your life. Set a short-term goal; even if it is just a goal for the day that you know you will do so that you can have that feeling of “I did it”. (Make the bed or wash the dishes, etc.) You will be surprised how even one small thing can change and improve both your mood and your outlook.
I didn’t make a new year resolution; like I said I never do. However, I did decide I was going to make a life resolution. That is to write more this year. To be more creative. To work toward making money off my creativity so that I can do more of what I love and enjoy rather than something I am simply just “good” at. It is both a simple yet difficult goal. My simple reason is this: I enjoy writing. I feel I am good at it. Yet I tend to put it off for other things that come up in my life. Usually I find that I am pulled in multiple directions and by the time I “find” the time to write; my creativity has worn thin and I just don’t feel inspired.
I know that a lot of writers will say “don’t wait until you feel inspired or you will never write.” Well, there is a lot of truth to that. However, since we all operate differently, I want to do more creative writing which means I need to be inspired. I need to be inspired. It is the way that I work. I need to feel the energy flowing through me – follow the stream of energy as it moves from my head to my fingers to that white space in front of me. It is not always on a computer either – I enjoy the flow of ink on a piece of paper. Sometimes I will just write random words that have no meaning because I enjoy writing. Even when it is nonsensical. However, I also want to write something that other people can read and understand and find enjoyment in. My squiggly ramblings aren’t always an inspiration to others; let alone written in a tangible format.
I admit that was a bit of a ramble.
This year I encourage you to:
- Leave a positive mark – through inspiration, invention, and/or invitation.
- Make it a point to do more for yourself and for others.
- When you have the chance to effect change in another person’s life; use it wisely.