Happy New Year, or, The Imperfection of Me.

Well, now that the holidays have died down, and we can all rush to get "on track" with a new year, I suppose it's time that I look at the last year, reflect, and make a few changes for the next year of life.  It's been a rather momentous year, I'm happy to say, and there are many positives I can take from it.  I was lucky enough to be able to do some soul-searching, a little writing, a lot of time spent on the bike, a little traveling to new places, and I was able to spend a lot of time creating in the workshop.  A good year, on the whole.

So, the big question: where to go from here?

It's an important question.  I know a lot of folks look at the "New Year's Resolution" thing as trite, old, and silly these days, and I think it's a telling thing about who we are as a culture, and what kinds of things we're doing.  I had a conversation just the other day the the New Year is something celebrated everywhere across the globe.  It is, very likely, the only secular holiday that IS celebrated worldwide.  Imagine that: this one thing is something we can all agree needs to be celebrated.  In other words: it's important.  Everyone deems it important.  By all means, if there's another holiday that I am missing, please feel free to let me know, but I cannot think of a holiday that is not uniquely belonging to a nation or a religion, but really belongs to the whole world.  But, I digress.

The new year is as good a time as any to start a new path.  But the important part is the question that drives said new beginning.  Why make a change at all?  Why make a resolution?  What is the point?  The point is to grow.  To become better.  To move towards the ideal self.  Well, yes, but there's more to it than that.  It's not only to become better people, but also to acknowledge that we are imperfect, and need to improve.

I imagine there are a bunch of folks who are about to say, "Oh crap, there he goes, spouting that religious talk again!"  Not true.  I'm speaking purely in the secular here, and leaving any and all definitions of "god" out of it.  I'm speaking about looking at our world critically, and seeing it - us, me - as it is:  in need of work.  I am acknowledging that I need to be better in order to make this world a better place.  Failure to do so - to acknowledge the imperfect me - is to commit the gravest sin against mankind, and assume that the world needs to change around me.

I'm sure that many folks are now saying, "Well, duh! We already knew you weren't perfect!"  Yes, I know you did - but that's not really where I'm going.  If I say that I'm not going to resolve to make myself better in the new year - if I treat the New Year's Resolutions as silly, trite, and old-fashioned, and refuse to make them, then I am making that sin.  Yet, in this era where we, as a culture, have elevated the 'I" to an unheard of level of importance, we see more an more people failing to make the resolutions towards improving.  We hear, "oh, I never stick to them, so why make them?" or "Well, you should only set goals you know you can attain, that way, you can feel good about yourself."

Bullshit.

If we only set goals we know we can achieve, what good is the goal?  We should set ridiculous expectations for ourselves, we should shoot for the proverbial stars!  We might not make it there.  That's ok, frankly.  The point is to never stop trying.  When we set goals that are easy, we allow ourselves to be complacent.  We say, "I did it" and wear it like a badge of honor for all to see.  But is it really satisfying?  Some people may say "yes" to that question.  I can't be one of those people.  I have unrealistic expectations of myself.  They will require work - a lot of it.  And I might not achieve them.  Or I might.  And if I don't - ok.  I can live with that.  But if I do.....I can change the world.  I can make life extraordinary.

Thanks for reading,

Me