The problem with New Year's Resolutions

There are 365 days in 2009. 52 weeks. 12 months. 4 seasons.

Each January, a vast sea of opportunity wobbles before me, shiny and blue and teaming with promises of adventure. I stand barefoot on the comfortable sandy beach, exhilarated as wavelets lap against my warm toes and wash bits of coral and shell around my ankles. I tell myself to enjoy the moment - I have all year to wade and swim and take my chances in the deep water - so day after day, week after week, month after month, season after season, I soak in the sun and build sand castles by the sea, without ever getting my hair wet.

Until another January rolls around and I look out over the deep, blue, mysterious water and feel that same tug of adventure that teases me every year.

A month of 2009 is already behind us, and it was a month to remind anyone that life is unpredictable, and the safe, soft sand beneath our feet might wash away at any moment. We all need to know that we can be strong when we need to be strong, and I think that means something different to everyone. For me, it means being more afraid of a missed opportunity than a failure. It means working toward my potential, and risking the realization that I'll never quite be good enough. Because maybe I will be good enough, or lucky enough, or both, to do the things I dream of. I think I'd rather know than wonder.

And so, in this spirit, I make a resolution. Not a New Year's resolution, the likes of which melt to mental footnotes with the coming of spring, but a Life resolution to see me through old age and beyond. If there is one thing I have learned with age, it's that anything worthwhile is achieved a piece at a time, and must be viewed as the sum of its parts.

My resolution is to try something new each week to improve myself in the areas of health, wealth or happiness. I can do small things and silly things, good things and grand things. If something feels good, I will continue it indefinitely. If it doesn't sit with me, I will quit at the end of the week. I will report each week on my experiences, and decide what the next week's challenge will be, building on my experiences and working toward the ultimate goals of good health, stable wealth and self-sustaining happiness.