Sunday, January 1, 2017

The Twelve Days of Christmas Blog Challenge - Day 8

For the eighth day of The Twelve Days of Christmas Blog Challenge, the prompt is to write 8 minutes about my opinion on New Year's Resolutions.



It goes on to say, "Some people swear by New Year’s Resolutions, others think they’re somewhat pointless. You have eight minutes of writing to outline what your thoughts on this annual tradition may be. And if you do make resolutions, why not share them?"

When I was younger, I used to do New Year's Resolutions. I thought it would be kind of fun to do - like predictions for the future. Would they come true? How many actually happened by the end of the year?

As a young adult, I didn't do resolutions because I saw them as predictions that often times didn't come true. So, why bother?

As an adult, I look at resolutions more as goals now. If I'm committed to the resolution - or goal - then I'll try to make it work. It has to be of value and meaningful to me, or else it is simply just an item on a "to do" list...a task...a chore.

In August 2012, I created a Bucket List that had a a wide variety of goals on it. My father had died in January 2012, so I felt a greater need to think carefully about what I wanted to do in the life that is given to me.

How could I make the best use of my time? What did I want to accomplish in the remaining time that I had?

I've also done different goal-setting activities and challenges in the past: 3 in 30 (where I worked on three specific goals for 30 days) and 52 Books in 52 Weeks. I also set nature goals which I did well on during 2015, but not so well on in 2016.

As I look at 2017, my overall goals are to:
- re-visit the Bucket List and determine what I want to realistically accomplish this year;
- re-visit hobbies that I enjoyed in the past and that I have taken a break from during the past year or so; and
- create a more realistic list of nature goals.

Collectively, these resolutions - or goals - would be meaningful guideposts as I enter into a new year.

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