10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2,1….

Happy New Year!

Over the last few days we have all put on our cocktail dresses, collared shirts and worn silly hats. We’ve  drank champagne, cocktails and champagne cocktails. We’ve gone to parties, danced, and flirted. We’ve counted down the moments and all either kissed (or looked around awkwardly because you didn’t kiss at midnight). We’ve sung “The Quantiance”  (or Auld Lang Syne for those of you cultured enough to know the real words). We’ve nursed our hang overs (becuase I’ve been told that Champagne and Tequila is a bad idea), and we’ve looked around and decided that we should be getting ready for the New Year that stands before us.

So what does that mean? New Years Resolutions.

Yep. We all make them. Each year we resolve to be better, be bigger, stronger, richer, nicer, thinner, prettier, and wiser. We want to make new friends, appreciate our old friends, be better about budgeting, working out, staying in, eating out, or staying thin.

And maybe I’m a but of a cynic, but here is the part that I don’t get: If you really could be thinner, smarter, and better…wouldn’t you be there already? I like to assume that each of us takes on life with our best foot (feet?) forward each day. And that if you really could be so much better at balancing our check books, making it to the gym, or eating less cholesterol, wouldn’t we already be doing it? Like I said, I may be cynical, but I have a hard time believing that we are going to change our weaknesses just because we try harder come January.

ok, before I get ahead of myself, I get it that resolutions are just for fun. And there’s nothing wrong with looking around at your life and taking a glace at things you can do better.  I mean, is there anything wrong with making January a sort of observation point, and a place to make room for a change of direction?

For New Year’s Eve, we all sat around the table at Morton’s, sipping cocktails and munching glorious appetizers. And while we basked in the last few moments of 2008, we went around the table and gave our resolutions. One of my friends says, “I don’t know if this counts as a resolution, but I do have goals for this year,” and she went on to tell that she wants to do an Olympic Triathlon before the end of 2009.

Maybe that’s what I like the idea of goals instead of resolutions. My dad has always said to me,”There are two keys to being happy. One – what is it you want to be happy? Two – when will you know when you get it?” I find it funny that we think that we can simply resolve to be better at something, and *bam* you will be better. Mainly because like I’d said, if we could operate more efficiently at something, wouldn’t we be doing it since last year anyway? I like the idea of goals better because you know exactly when you finish it. Want to run a marathon? You know when you cross the finish line. You want to start your own business? You know when you are the owner and you are taking steps toward making money.

I personally am being called by a couple of mountains in Oregon called the Three Sisters. I would love to summit the mountain this year, and wouldn’t mind finding the end of the Grand Canyon or the top of Half Dome. Call them goals, call them resolutions, I don’t even know if it matters. I just think that there are exciting things and places out there in life, and I would love to give it a shot.

Do you resolve? Does 2009 mean a new beginning for you? Or do you think its just a trite thing that we think about as we toast champagne and sing “The Quaintence?”

Happy New Year!