Jan 1^st, Resolutions, Revolutions and Evolutions

 

January the 1^st is just that, the first of January. It comes every year as does every other date. Professing to launch a new beginning, break old habits, give yourself an extreme physical or emotional makeover, find love, lose weight or seek any other thing you are not particularly happy with is not magical on the first day of every year. If you were fat on the 31^st, you’re still fat on the 1^st and probably over the next few days or weeks thereafter. If you don’t have what you perceive as love in your love, then maybe you’re looking for love in all the wrong places. If you drink too much, you probably over did last night thinking today would be the start of not drinking like a fish. And if today is the day you stop smoking, then why did you smoke so much last night and pollute those around you? If you didn’t like yourself December 31^st, what makes you think you’re a sweetheart today?

 

No, resolutions are not the miracle cure for what makes you so unhappy. Sorry, but it’s just another day like the run before and the one tomorrow. Why is it that we too often launch a revote against our eating habits moments before midnight, only to gorge ourselves on collard greens and black-eyed peas, cornbread and all the fixings, sweet tea and desserts the very first day we profess to take control. We’re taking the K&W approach today; no home cooking and leftovers of the rest of the week, no aroma of collards greens penetrating every inch of the house for days, no clean up or washing dishes necessary; and guess what, the K&W serves portions and if you can back for seconds, you pay for seconds. Being older and wiser, we join those other elderly folks at the K&W (Kanes and Wheelchairs), a right of passage. Seriously, have you ever scanned the tables when there, Q-tips dot the horizon. It is good food bought cheaply.

 

Greens consumed on the 1^st day of the year are supposed to ensure you have plenty of cash during the year. I eat greens (turnip salad, collards, spinach) once or twice a week and it ensures iron in your blood, not gold or silver in your pockets. Working and earning a living ensure cash flow. Political jab, sorry, try to stay away from this but government is not going to buy you happiness. Entitlements arte ruining the country, making too many people fat and lazy and the New Year’s revolution is not going to win that war. You control your life and what has happened can and shouldn’t be blamed on the success of others. I’ve worked my entire life and am still working. I owe you nothing so why should mine be used to supplement yours. Don’t even get me started on healthcare, the evolution sending us though the wormhole. Off my soap box, just ticks me off anyway and today I really don’t wish to stress about it.

 

New Years is just the beginning of another year. There is nothing magical about it. Your life will not undergo miraculous transformations just by you professing to change, do things better, shed old habits or pounds. There is nothing wrong with setting goals but waiting until January the first to set those goals is probably just a tad too late. You should have probably already set and been working on these things that make you unhappy. Keep in mine that you can only change what you can personally control. You can change other people or other situations that aren’t within your grasp to influence. If you hate your job, look for another one. Same goes for your spouse and significant other in any relationship. There’s nothing worse than being unhappy, so shame on you if you stay in either, if you don’t want to be there. Walking away isn’t easy, the first step being the hardest. I’ve left marriages and jobs that I didn’t particularly like and have never looked back. Stop throwing the pity party. Your friends don’t want to be invited to your unhappy life.

 

Yes, it is the first day of another new year and we all have dreams, aspirations and visions of a wonderful future. Destiny is but a word. You control it, not some pre-destined journey chosen for you. Take me. I’m no one special. I grew up in a small town, no particular standout my any measure, most of my life being uneventful except for misfires on my part; those events that you’re not really proud of, but it is what it is. I can’t change the past or blame others for how I have lived or the mistakes I have made. Today I can live the life I desire and I can influence tomorrow. I was no standout in school, not one to be remembered for being the smartest or most athletic; heck in most cases I was the unknown, the one skirting the shadows. I didn’t go onto college or earn any sort of degree but I have been successful; no, not rich, but I have managed and have everything I could ever want. I’m even a published author, four times and no one can take that away from me; even if I had to pay out of pocket to hold the completed books in my hand. But guess what, when I’m gone, my books will live on. I’ll be more than just another name on headstone in the graveyard. Thanks go out to those who have supported me, mostly family and friends; me wetting my hook in the fishing hole more times than I probably should have. I’m no million best seller but million is just number just like the 1^st. Writing and publishing my writing is an expensive hobby but I enjoy it so mission accomplished. I can strike that one off my bucket list so to speak.

 

No, today is not special. It is but the first day of the month of another new year, but it is what you make of it but no different than how you lived yesterday or plan to live tomorrow. Resolutions, revolutions and evolution are just words ending in ‘tion’. If it floats your boat to believe than there is nothing wrong in believing I suppose. Believing in Santa, The Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy have done wonders for my childhood, but the difference, adults can control their lives where as children we needed to believe in fairy tales. Last night we hugged, we kissed, possibly even more and we held up our glasses to toast what had been and what can be. Ultimately, it is what you make out of it, choices and you do have them. If today means the first step in your journey then so be it. Regardless, just be happy and live today as if you don’t have a tomorrow. You’ll like yourself if you just be you and not what you want to be or what others might want you to be. Happy first day of the rest of your life to each and every one of you and today and every day here after, belongs to you.

 

Disclaimer: fast and furious fingers pecked on the keyboard this morning so I do apologize up front for any grammatical, punctuation or sentence structural errors. I did run spelling checker but that’s about. I do not apologize for content. It was just me being me and January 1^st absolutely had no impact on my rambling scribbling.