A New Year

A Fresh Start for a New Year

Which makes it the perfect time to compose some resolutions.

Every year, the same one tops the list—mine as well as so many other women’s: Lose weight, get fit, run a marathon or, at least, around the block. I resolve to fit in my skinny jeans, to feel hot in my summer dresses, and not try to melt into the background while wearing my swimsuit. While my girlfriends tell me to “love my body” and the media says to “get thinner”, I’m trying to find a happy medium of “be happy with myself”. Which brings me to my next resolution.

It’s the resolution of a woman nearing forty: Make time for myself, remember who I am in this crazy busy world. As I get older, I can’t help but remember my younger self with nostalgia and think, momentarily, what happened to her and her zest for adventure. And her boobs. I really wonder what happened to her boobs.

There are professional goals, personal goals, motherhood goals. Some will be accomplished. Others will collect dust. When 2014 ends, I’ll look back and see my resolutions and wince at the broken pieces of goals while cheering the star studded shining resolutions met. Someone posted on my Facebook page today that they don’t see the point of resolutions. What’s the difference between January 1 and May 3?

In one word: new.

There’s something about starting a goal on the first day of the year. There’s something about that fresh calendar and all the possibilities awaiting. And there’s something about wiping clean a the slate of a bad year while celebrating the end of a good year. It’s a time of new beginnings. While May 3 is a perfectly good date, it’s not brimming with possibilities of a totally fresh start the way January 1 does.

This January, what are your resolutions? What are your goals? Will you be bemoaning missed opportunities at the end of January or firing forward, still awash with hope, excitement, and possibility?

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