With the new year comes new beginnings, or so I read all over the internet. It’s amazing where you’ll find yourself as you click from page to page, wide awake from insomnia and unable to get back to dreamland.

Looking back, a lot of what I was reading wound up having a similar message and mood. I’m not sure whether that was because of my choice of content searches, or perhaps my own attitude coloring what I remember from all my reading. Anyhow, given the time of year—the Christmas holiday and new year—most of the blogs, articles and social media postings I was perusing had quite a bit of negativity in them.

The running theme surrounding Christmas seemed to be how many people were left empty—unfulfilled—after this season in particular. It didn’t meet their expectations as it has in years past, apparently. They seemed sick of the rat race and expense the holidays bring, all for one day and then boom—it’s over. Many were discussing how they were planning to change things up for next year and beyond. I’m talking drastic changes to their long-held traditions. I could completely relate.

Then, as a natural progression, there were all the thoughts on new year’s resolutions, the 10 most common of which every year are (in no particular order): eat healthier or go on a diet, get more exercise, lose weight, fix financial issues, spend more time on hobbies or learn a new skill, quit smoking, read more (probably not a good idea for me considering my job), find another job (hmmm… ), drink less alcohol (there are a lot of dry people out there this month!), and finally, spend more time with friends and family. So, my question is, if there are so many people doing all these resolutions every year, why was I mostly reading about people not doing resolutions? I found more articles, blogs and comments from people whose attitudes indicated that resolutions were complete hogwash. It was pretty amusing, actually, since I have mostly held that opinion myself for many years. But, I have also enjoyed the positivity from being around others who participated in this tradition every January, because who doesn’t enjoy an infusion of that kind of wholesome energy, even if only for a few weeks at the beginning of a long winter? There can’t be anything negative in that.

So, here are my final conclusions. This is not resolution stuff. These are thoughts I have had for many years and all of my reading over the past month just helped me solidify my own life goals and prompted me to start implementing them for life, not just for a few weeks in January:


—You are what you read. Filter it carefully.
—You are also what you think. The law of attraction is a thing. Use it to your advantage. Draw to you what you want… not what you don’t want.
—Simplify your life. You can’t be present and enjoy life if you are bogged down with minutiae, stress, and more on your plate than one person can handle. Delegate what you can to responsible, organized people.
—If you are feeling negative, look around you. Keep a quality circle of influence. That goes for people as well as all sources of input. You always have choices.
—If something doesn’t serve you in a positive way, cut it from your life. This applies to people as well as material things, food, substances, etc. It’s not selfish to put yourself first if it helps you to be a positive, productive person.
—Be that person.