Thursday 1 January 2015

Welcome, Baby New Year 2015!

Keep Calm And Welcome To 2015

Much of the world has already welcomed 2015, but much of the world has not yet done so. At least as I write this. Being online and connecting to people from all over the world has really made me aware of time differences and has helped to hit home to me that different parts of the world celebrate the same events but at various times. My Kiwi and Aussie friends, for example, were some of the first to say hello to the newest year, while my friend in Hawai’i will be the last person I know to welcome Baby New Year. Here in southwestern BC, Canada, it’s only just after 10 AM, and there’re just under 14 hours to go ‘til 2015 comes to stay for the next 365 days.

NaBloPoMo_1214_465x287_prompts

The NaBloPoMo prompt for today is What are your resolutions for the new year? Tell us how you picked them.

I can’t say how I picked what I decided on, even though I’m not really calling them resolutions.

So what are my resolutions? I don’t have any. I don’t make resolutions, at least not at New Years, unless it’s a natural time to do so for whatever I need to do. I don’t call them resolutions, either, although that’s what they are, really.

Basically a resolution is a resolve to do something, although there’re different meanings. I went to Dictionary.com to see what the meaning is, and there was a whole page full of things.

It’s a noun, and the first four definitions, right from the page, are as follows:

noun

1. a formal expression of opinion or intention made, usually after voting, by a formal organization, a legislature, a club, or other group.

Compare concurrent resolution, joint resolution.

2. the act of resolving or determining upon an action, course of action, method, procedure, etc.

3. a resolve; a decision or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.

Her resolution to clear her parents' name allowed her no other focus in life.

4. the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose:

She showed her resolution by not attending the meeting.

 

The start of a new year seems like the perfect time to make resolutions, and I guess it is. I don’t think, though, that a person should make a decision to change at the start of a new year just because it’s a new year. If that’s the only reason a person decides to do something, that’s not enough motivation to stick with it. Not to me, anyway. Some people are able to stay with something just because they want to do it, and I do have that inside me, but to want to do something just because it’s a certain time of year isn’t enough for me to want to keep on with it.

I’m not saying don’t make changes at this time of year; nor am I saying that resolutions are a bad thing. Not at all! I think they’re good and necessary, and each person needs to be resolved at different times for different reasons. If someone makes a New Years resolution, I hope that I’m helpful to them in their efforts to make change. I want to support people in these endeavours, and I have no problem with people going forward with them at this time of the year.

Long ago, though, I learnt that New Years Resolutions aren’t enough for me to make lasting change. I need deeper motivations and reasons for change.

Having said all this, I am making change at this time of the year. I guess they are resolutions, but I’ve not yet put said anything in any definitive way, except to blog every day and to start studying at least two hours most days. A couple of years ago or so I started studying Fundamentals Of Insurance, which will allow me to work in the insurance industry. I know it’s not the most popular of things, but people need insurance, and there’s always a need for workers in this field. It’s a job that has plenty of room for advancement, if I choose to move up, and it’s steady work.

So there’re two resolutions right there. I’ve already started studying again, but starting next Monday – 5 January – I’ll set aside time five days each week just for studying. I’ve also started blogging again, and starting today – 1 January – I’ll do so every day.

In an earlier post I wrote about NaBloPoMo, which I started to do one month years ago. I didn’t carry on with it, though, but now I am determined to do it. I need to add discipline to my life, and this is one way that I will do that.

Another blog challenge I decided on is a photo challenge, and I joined a Facebook group dedicated to that challenge. Photo Blogging Challenge. I love photography, and this is one way that’ll get me back into it a lot more than I have been the past while. The main website for this is a ‘lilhoohaa, and its photoblogging challenge is on the post titled Photo Blogging Challenge: January 2015’s theme is…

Then there’s also the Ultimate Blog Challenge – Boost Your Blog’s Traffic, which also has a group on Facebook. I don’t actually care – at least at this point – whether this humble blog reaches a huge audience or not, but it would be nice in some ways, I guess.

The reason I joined these challenges is to keep my motivation up and to help me to stick with it. So many times I start things and don’t carry on. I stop them because I either get bored or lose motivation, and I don’t want that to happen. I do get easily bored with things if I don’t find them challenging enough, and having these challenges will keep these things interesting for me, I think and hope.

One last link I’ll share before I end this post with a question is for Day Zero Project, which calls itself “the largest community of goal setters in the world.” I can see that. I just found it, and it looks like it could be quite inspiring. I’ve not yet had a good look around it, but I will do so. I might even join it at some point, but for now, I have plenty on my plate, and I’ll stick with what I have. Far too often I tend to take on too much, and then I get overwhelmed – another reason I end up quitting things far earlier than I should.

Question:  Are there any resolutions or challenges you’ve decided to take up for the year, or at least for the time being? If so, are you willing to share them here? If there’re weblinks connected to them, please share them here so that I and others can check them out.

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