This morning was a great morning! I was thinking: It's New Year's Day, and I've got a clean slate. This new year is fresh and full of possibility - there is nothing that is out of my reach! Now is a great time to effect changes in my environment, in my approach, and in my attitude. Opportunities and challenges will present themselves in the coming days, weeks, and months, and I'm looking forward to every single one!
Then I had to get out of bed.
Those thoughts stuck with me though, more than I remember in prior years. I've been thinking a lot about change recently, and some changes I'd like to make. I actually started making them last summer: I moved my family to a new time (not very far this time), became a Boy Scout leader, and began a religious education program (as a student, not a teacher) to join my church "officially". I did manage to lose some weight, though by New Year's Eve, I'd gained some of it back if only temporarily. And I made a change to be home for dinner with my family each night, which really did have an impact on me and them. I probably missed it at least once per week, but the other nights helped to strengthen our bonds.
There's more I need to do (but isn't there always?). This year, I'd like to change my attitude at work. 2013 was a bad year for my influence and impact, and a lot of that had to do with a chip I carried on my shoulder for most of the year. OK. actually maybe two; but I'm over that now, and accepting the changes that led to my attitude I plan to approach the year in a more systematic and less manic way, and try to calm the ripples that head my way, rather than amplify them.
I'd also like to change my nutrition habits - really more tweaking than wholesale change; I eat pretty well today with a healthy proportion of vegetables in my diet, and not much meat or fats. My two weaknesses of sugary snack and diet sodas have to be cut back though. They affect me in ways I don't fully appreciate, in in both mind and body, and I know I can do without them, or at least consume more moderately than I do today.
Big thoughts for a morning in January.
The next 10 days will set the tone for the year. I've been 'on vacation' for the last 10 days, so I haven't been to my office (but took Many Many calls every day). Getting back into the real grind will test my commitment to personal change. Habits are tough to break, and they are reinforced when we're put into familiar situations. They say it takes 28 days to change a habit; my personal history says two weeks to lock in change, and a lifetime of discipline to keep it from returning. That's true of both physical habits (like eating and exercise) and mental ones (like attitude and one's approach to interpersonal relations).
Here's to hope that my clean slate stays clean.
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