Negative New Year Nellies

From children to adults, we all love new! It's a proven fact! Kids love the promise of new toys and if you walk around any car accessories area in a store looking for an air fresher scent you can easily find one called "new car" scent. We absolutely, positively love new. So when the new year rolls in people are excited for new experiences, new adventures, and the possibilities of new opportunities. Everyone feels like they can take on the world, or the issues of their lives, and press forward to victory.

We also know by the end of the month, if not earlier, most people abandon their pursuits and sink back into whatever were their habits before the ball dropped and the clock striked twelve. But honestly, should our focus remain there? I believe as an online community we need to be in the business of spurning each other on, not regurgitating the defeats that possibly lies in the future.

As I visited various social media platforms today it was interesting to see how many people are taking part in the war against resolutions. Resolutions are not the problem, it's the fact that we normally stop at the resolution, which means we go no farther than making a wish, that's the problem. Not truly looking at the behaviors we need to change relearn in order to inch us closer to achieving our resolution goal.

We have heard it said before that it takes about a month to form a new habit. Others would argue that it takes even longer than that! What we can agree on is that habit forming whether new or relearned is a process and processes take time.

My Twitter page for the new year. I associate the struggles of life with sports, helps me to wrap my brain around it.

Dead Man Walking

I can remember a time in life when I thought I could numb myself to the pains of this world. I have a strong hermit gene that I constantly have to fight against. I prefer to stay at home over anything else. Being in my safe four walls where I command the comings and goings was definitely my first preference. Clubs, bars, even small sporting events in this area didn't excite me. My financial issues made me just want to focus on going to work, paying bills, sleep, and repeat. I saw no true joy in life, just a mediocre existence of repetition. Work, pay bills, sleep, repeat... with being drawn into other people's issues helping to break up the monotony just a little. The sad part was I was willing to live with that existence. Emphasis on "existence" because I was not really living.

Honestly I was just a "dead man walking". People around me couldn't tell it. I functioned at work, gave my best efforts, and kept it moving. I functioned at home, paid bills, help to take care of my mother, and kept it moving. Around family I gathered, conversed, enjoyed that time, and kept it moving. Yet, inside I was stagnate, emotionally unmoved, and uninspired. So how did I get out of that death trap?

Here are a few things I learned to do that took me from merely existing to be determined to enjoy my life.