Do-Over!

Is it just ME, or are you, too, excited about a new year?

Truth be told, I am happy to see 2012 end – and “12” was always my favorite number!

Don’t get me wrong; 2012 (must have) had (some) great moments and we do need to dig-deep and recall them.  Then celebrate them again in our minds, file them, move on, do better, or do over.

The too many and too cruel realities of 2012 are sadly easier to recall. Mother Nature, herself, wreaked havoc around the globe from floods in Australia, China, and Nepal, the earthquake in the Philippines, Superstorm Sandy in the U.S.  

Man’s inhumanity to man broke too many stories around the world including genocide, murder, bombings, and the senseless shootings of 20 students in Mubi, Nigeria as well as 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut, United States – with just 9 days to go until Christmas.  Still too tragic to wrap our heads and hearts around.

BUT, since the Mayan prediction about the end of the world did not occur on December 21, 2012, we get another chance to do a better job, to live more peacefully, to encourage and support one another.   We came together as a world community for 2 magnificent weeks in August for the 30^th Olympiad (there ‘ya go, a good 2012 memory!).  Can’t we transfer the same spirit beyond the fields of athletic competition?  Sure we can!

SO, as we close the book on one year, we open a new one; one yet to be written, to be lived.  How we do that is up to each of us; that alone is something to celebrate!  (“Choices”: 12/12/12) 

As a young student athlete, we had an expression: “Do-Over” when we didn’t like the outcome and needed to do it again to produce a better one!  Oh, that it could be that easy!

 

I think of that expression every year at this time as we face the challenge and the opportunity to “do-over” each day of a new year.  We typically approach is as resolutions.  Does that mean to “re-solve”, as in solve it again?  But if we already “solved” it………..

Resolutions often include exercising more, losing weight and relaxing on the weekend.  In this context, a resolution is a promise you make to yourself.   That’s fine, but by definition it is about doing for oneself.

Well, as I head toward a big birthday, I’ve made a big decision.  My resolution is about changing things that will have a direct influence on the lives of others – not just me!  Pretty grown up, don’t you think?

Do-overs are great but they are never guaranteed.  I’ve decided to do it right this year (or at least exhaust myself trying). I have been very inspired by the poem that follows (BTW: the same author in my previous Blog, “Mad Dash to the Finish Line” (12/21/12)  

I hope it inspires you, too; I believe there is a bit of each of us on at least one line of this poem.

Time of Your Life Do you reflect upon the years gone by as you prepare for yet one more, with promises and resolutions that you have made before? Do memories of people and places once as sharp as any knife now blend in bits and pieces in a kaleidoscope of life? Do you squander precious minutes seeking reasons why you're here,  contemplating your life's purpose year after passing year? Persuade yourself to understand, it matters not the reason. Your purpose is to seize the life in every passing season! Learn to see things differently. Let your thoughts and actions change. Allow your views of past and present to slowly rearrange. Let your spirit start anew; become focused and aware of the moments and the blessings that surround you everywhere! Do not permit past memories: the where…the who…the how to become more important than the ones you’re making now. Live life in person; inhabit every day. You may not like where you are now, but you’re there anyway! A lifetime is a puzzle, every failure, each success adds another jagged piece to fit together with the rest. To finish the picture and view the masterpiece whole, fill the time of your life with your heart and your soul. Acquaint yourself with your feelings and heighten your senses. Experience living. Put down your defenses. You don't have to know why you are you, and I’m me. Believe it is what it is and it’s how it should be. You did not choose your date of birth, nor do you know your last, so live this gift that is your present, before it becomes your past. Linda Ellis, copyright 2011

So, IS it just me, or are you, too, feeling inspired, moved to action? 

Let’s go girls: if we don’t do it, who will?

Let’s resolve to make the number “13” a lucky one, a blessed one, a promising one, a fulfilling one.

To you and yours, I wish you the best that life can offer,

opportunity around every corner,

 health, and great friends with whom to share it all.

Happy New Year!

Beth