Welcome 2009!

For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." -- T.S. Eliot


Happy New Year, everyone! Am I the only person who just can NOT believe that the old year is gone already? Who wants to place bets on how long it will take me to start writing 2009 or '09 on checks or other dated materials? (Insider info: It's usually at least a week.)

I HATE New Year's resolutions, so I'm not making any. I think that, by design, they set us up for failure because they are usually clouded by some grandiose imagery of how we think things should be. (One of my regular quotes to the mother is that there's a world of difference between should be and is.)

Instead, I'm going to make myself a promise. I'm going to promise myself a better year in 2009. That's not to say that 2008 was bad. It had its difficult moments to be sure, but all in all it was a pretty good year. Part of that was luck. Part of that was a basket of blessings. The other part was just sheer determination on my part.

And that is where the key is. That determination -- on my part. It's easy to curse our luck or to blame others for our shortcomings. But, the bottom line is, at the end of the day, the only person responsible for your happiness is YOU. Sure things are going to happen that you can't control. (Physical injury, a death, a job loss.) The deciding factor though on whether these things make or break you is all in how you react to them.

I am impatient. I am a brooder. My emotional quotient is like a sponge that soaks up both the positive and negative energy of others. I tend to set the bar way too high -- and then wonder why I couldn't reach it. Conversely, if I'm not that keen on doing something, even if it is well within my skill set, I pick at it or avoid it when I know what I should do is attack it head on.

So, as we start this new year, I plan to make the most of all that has been given to me. For those things I enjoy, I plan to enjoy them tenfold. For those things that are, well, ugly on a good day ... I'll tackle them harder and move through them quicker. I'll try to be more patient. I'll work against the negative energy that I am often so quick to absorb. And, I'll attack the job at hand with gusto, whether it's something I enjoy or loathe with a passion that I reserve for few things. If I start phoning it in, I'll call myself on it instead of just giving myself a pass. I've been given many gifts. To abuse, or worse yet, not use them at all, exceeds sinful.

Will I fall short of the mark? Probably. But I have to believe that if I seriously commit myself to the paragraph above, 2009 can't help but be a stellar year.

And it all starts now ...