WELCOME 2013

It's a new year!  I always find that with a new year comes hope of new possibilities and new beginnings.  I do not make New Year resolutions. Why set myself up for failure from the very first day of the year?  That just doesn't make any sense to me. I do how ever like to come up with a list of goals that I plan to work toward meeting in the course of the year.  Is there a difference between a resolution and goal?  I thing so.  For me a resolution is something that can become a straight jacket.  Something that MUST be accomplished or failure becomes the end result.  I have had enough failure in my life.  As I said earlier I don't need to set myself up for more.  A goal is somehow softer than a resolution.

Maybe I am just playing a game of semantics, but for me there is an important difference between a goal and a resolution. Making a resolution is committing myself to an end result.  Setting a goal is beginning on a journey or a process. Even the fact that I used the terms "making" and "setting" I think is significant.  Also I note the use of the words "committing" and "beginning".  For me these are also significant.

Over the years I have learned some significant things about myself.  One is I have a short attention span when it comes to long term projects.  (There are have been a few things I have been committed to on a long term basis, but in the end even some of them have not turned out too well) Also I get distracted and lose focus easily.  These are not traits I am necessarily proud of or like in myself, but they are me.  I've tried to overcome them and change, but the change never lasts.  At best I have tried to learn to live with them and work within their constraints. For these reasons goals work much better for me than resolutions.

So what are some goals I will work on in 2013?  I have identified several.  The first is one I set out every new year.  I usually manage to make some progress on it.  The second is one I actually was highly successful with in 2012 and plan to continue hopefully for the rest of my life. The rest are new to the new year.

• Work on completing some of the UFO projects that fill my closets.
• Spend the beginning of each day with a devotion and time with God.
• Find a new home for the end of the year.
• Find a means of increasing income in a way that doesn't take away from my enjoyment and contentment in life or find a way to reduce expenses without doing the above.
• Strengthen new friendships being made in FL.
• Maintain my health both physical and mental.

 I am sure more goals will pop-up through out the year.  I certainly hope they do.  I know there are a few more goals I have that I am  not ready to put into writing yet.  Maybe because I don't want to admit to them completely; maybe because I just am not ready to make them public quite yet, but they are in the back of my mind. In any case........

HAPPY NEW YEAR!