New Year, Same Goals

by Kelley Lindberg


See all those clean, white, blank squares on that shiny new calendar? Such a feeling of possibility, of promise, of optimism!

Half of mine are already scribbled in.

I spent the first day of the New Year filling in all the things I know will happen this year – birthdays, regular meetings, doctor and dentist appointments, sports practices, music lessons, and so on. It didn’t take long for 2011 to look exactly like 2010.

Then I sat down to think about some New Year’s goals. Funny, they look an awful lot like last year’s, too.

For a few minutes, I was kind of depressed. Gee, I thought. Didn’t I make any progress at all? But then I remembered… it’s not the destination, but the journey that’s important.

So what if my New Year’s resolutions look the same from year to year? I think that just means I’m consistent. My priorities haven’t changed. The things I enjoy doing haven’t changed. The people I love haven’t changed. Their needs haven’t changed.

So why should my goals?

And thinking about my year in GREAT BIG IMPORTANT HEADLINES can be misleading. We all know that sometimes it’s the little things that matter most. The new allergy-friendly recipes I found that make life a little tastier. The time I’ve spent with family and friends. The things I’ve watched my son learn and the new ideas I’ve watched him consider. The people I’ve connected with. The beautiful aspects of life on this earth that I’ve tried to appreciate.

So I’m embracing my goals from last year once again. (I like to call it “recycling.”) I’ll continue to find ways to simplify, spend less, and share more. I’ll keep writing because that’s what I love, and cleaning house because it’s a necessary evil. I’ll let the set-backs roll off my shoulders, and the successes buoy me up. I’ll notice the beautiful things around me, and I’ll try to make the world cleaner, safer, and more positive as I move through it. I’ll exercise because my body needs it, and I’ll keep writing and talking about food allergies because it might help someone out there whom I haven’t even met yet.

So here’s to a New Year filled with all the promise, optimism, and possibility that those scribbled-in squares represent. Let’s just think of each of those little squares as another postcard to ourselves from along the journey.

Happy New Year!