My Word For the Year

I wrote last year about my distaste for New Year’s Resolutions. I’m still of the same mind; at best, resolutions are an inefficient and unrealistic method of self-improvement. At worst, they’re yet another tool that we use as evidence of our personal failures when we inevitably fail to follow through on them.

I wrote that I preferred the idea of New Year’s Intentions. Intentions do not carry quite the same weight or pressure as resolutions because they are not evaluated on a black-and-white, pass-or-fail basis. And, although good intentions might be the asphalt that leads to the realm of fire and brimstone, the point is that intentions are designed to point our thoughts in a certain direction. That shift in mindset from passive reactions to active choices hopefully leads to more productive and positive actions.

I’m retrospect, though, the intentions still weren’t quite good enough for me. Continue reading “My Word For the Year”

Onward and Upward in the New Year

It was a good thing the wall was inflatable; otherwise my anxiety would have been even higher.

It was only her third try but she scrambled up, finding hand and footholds quickly, as though she had made the same journey hundreds of times before. I assisted her sparingly during her first two trips, giving her a boost when she needed, but usually just directing her to find the next small ledges to plant her feet. I didn’t touch her on that third time, although I was ready to catch her as she went over the curved outcropping halfway up. I hadn’t thought much of it at the time, aside from being amazed at how rapidly she had mastered the climbing wall, but she apparently noticed that I wasn’t holding her anymore.

“Are you still behind me?” she had asked. Continue reading “Onward and Upward in the New Year”

New Year’s Non-Resolutions

The end of the year tends to spur people into becoming reflective. I’d argue that I tend to be fairly reflective most of the time anyway but there is something about the end of a year and the start of the new one that makes me think on a slightly broader scale. I live much of my life focused on the present; what tasks need to be completed, why are the kids crying, how do I get from point A to point B, etc. There are so many small fires to be put out that I sometimes forget about finding ways to stop them from starting in the first place. That is what this time of year is for: taking stock of where we were and what we’ve done and making decisions and plans for the coming year.  Continue reading “New Year’s Non-Resolutions”

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