New Year Resolutions

Each January 1 provides the perfect opportunity for a fresh start. The temptation to clean out the old and welcome the new is often overwhelming. The limitless possibility of what new could be stretches out before me. The list of complaints concerning the old is endless. Changing from old to new can come with a crush of disappointment when the new mimics the old. Due to past disappointment, I've grown cautious when setting off down the path of resolution.

This year, I have decided that some risks are worth taking and that the old is unacceptable. The new must be different because the old is a mire of inaction and apathy. Any action at all will bring more positive results than paralysis.

And so, I find myself here, doing something new. Talking to myself in public. I'm determined to expose myself in unlikely ways in an unlikely location. As a writer. Writing.

My intention is to write. Daily. To learn about expressing myself and to develop the ablility to express myself well. The reason I'm writing in public is to give myself a measure of accountability. I need a record of my success/failure/progress/lack of progress. I need a measure of myself. This forum is my measure. I'm hoping it will be, in time, a record of growth. I hope to see the kind of results that my children see when they look at the pencil marks next to the door in our kitchen. Last year I was here. Now I'm here. Next year I might be here.

For now, I'm content to have made a beginning. Sometimes the first steps are enough to celebrate.