As we tear the cellophane off a brand new year and look forward to what will come in the weeks and months ahead, it’s only natural to set goals and intentions. It is what we do as a society; common practice for our lives and times.

We make resolutions to find deeper sleep, exercise more, eat better, save more money, and complete all those things we have started. Often, in doing so, we set ourselves up for disappointment.

I’m not going to make any resolutions this year. Yes, I’ve got things that need to be tended to, and so much stuff in a perennial state of ‘almost done’, but I’m not going to make an exhaustive list and cave under the pressure of expectations.

Instead I’ve set a motto I hope will carry me through the year: Try to live tomorrow a little better than today.

It seems pretty simple to me. Each day I will try a little harder to get stuff done, I will try to communicate better than I have in the past, try to be a little kinder, and I will try to enjoy things that come my way without overthinking how they came to be.

I will try to make each day a little better.

Now, I’m not sure there is a quantitative method of measuring my progress, and I’m not really going to look for one. Don’t we already have enough checks and balances built into our lives? And as soon as you attempt to put some system of metrics in place, it just becomes a numbers game.

I am going to let my emotions and feelings determine how the day has been, or will be. I will make an honest, authentic attempt daily in some way. I will try because trying is the only way anything will happen.

The moment you stop trying is the moment you begin dying, and I have far too much to live for.

We all do.

#writeeverydamnday

Every day I write. I write
every damn day. Sometimes
it’s poetry, or essays, and
thoughts, or questions.
Other times it is unsolicited
advice (not always heeded,
especially by myself) or
observations on things that
catch my eye and make me
wonder. Why? It’s what I do,
every day, and every day for
the past two years I’ve been
posting some of my stuff
here, not because I have to,
but because I want to. I write,
every damn day.
Thank you for reading.

What?

          What have you forgotten?
   What keeps you awake? What
could solve those few problems?
   What will it take?    What are
                               you missing?
What makes it real? What are you
thinking? What do you feel? What
    would be different if
             it actually could?   What is
holding you back from doing
    all that
  you should? What could go wrong?
What makes you so sure?      What,
   for heavens sake,
      is the answer
                              or cure? What will
it cost you to change up the pace?
    What goes on behind the
smirk on your face?    What do you
remember? What do you know?
   What will it take to let it all go?
                                                           j.g.l.

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