Starting...

I love the clean-slate feel of a new year. I like the looking forward but I also want to be able to look back and see a journey underway.

Everywhere you look are articles on resolutions. Don't make them. Do make them. Make several. Make one. Be firm. Be flexible. How to avoid disappointment.

Hint: there will always be disappointment.

The clean-slate of the new year is a lot like a blank page. It's perfect as is: perfectly empty, perfectly ready. The problem is that what goes down on the page doesn't always meet unrealistic expectations. What goes down on the year can be pretty similar: lots of unexpected things, some not so pleasant, things we wish we'd done differently, times of fear, loss and disappointment. They aren't part of the plan.

But isn't any of that--the good, the bad, the ugly, the disappointing--better than nothing at all? You can keep the page pristine, and the year as well, but in the end, have you accomplished anything?

My thought for this year is to have some "landings" during the course of the year. I've sent a reminder to myself for March 1 to take a good look back and a good look forward. Readjust, edit, pay attention. Here's to a good year, with all its bumps. I'm headed for the first landmark. :)