Do you like

this article?

 

We send out articles like this one in our free weekly newsletter.  The newsletter is written to motivate, inspire, educate, and entertain you.  

 

To sign up, send us an email to Subscribe@TomorrowsEdge.net with the words "free motivational newsletter" in the subject line.  We will be happy to add you to the list.

 

Looking Up Newsletter

Life Coaching with Skye Thomas

The author,

Skye Thomas is available for life coaching.

Tomorrow's Edge Logo

Year-End Accounting

 

As this year comes to an end, I find myself contemplating ‘New Year’s Resolutions.’  Not the actual resolutions that I will make, but the concept that we actually deem this the day to make resolutions.  I guess I have three times each year that I make ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ -- my birthday, my annual vacation, and in September when my kids go back to school.  Each one tends to focus on a different theme, not that they do not all flow into each other.  Other than fiscal tax-related goals, I cannot really see any reason to make the calendar year a momentous occasion to make big statements of personal change.  So, here I sit trying to come up with big life improving goals to set and I come up with the same ones I have made every year.  This is the year that I am going to lose that pesky ten pounds that has bothered me since I was seventeen years old and this is the year that I am finally going to gain some sort of control over my Janis Joplin mess of hair.

 

There are other times of year that I think are more logical for making resolutions.  I know a lot of people take a personal accounting of themselves around their birthdays.  My sister treats herself by taking the entire week of her birthday off from work.  She thoroughly enjoys spending time alone while her kids are in school and her husband is at work.  Another friend of mine has an annual emotional breakdown during the weeks leading up to his birthday as he remembers all the nightmares of his past.  A lot of us evaluate our personal timelines as our birthdays roll around each year.  

 

I remember falling apart every year as my thirtieth birthday approached because I was sure that I would be an old maid at thirty.  I would re-evaluate my chances at finding a husband every year as we added another candle to my cake.  I was so sure that once I hit thirty I would no longer be marketable in the dating world!  Funny how we think when we are young!  So, every year I cried as that 30th birthday candle approached.  

 

We often tell ourselves that by the time we are thirty, forty, fifty, or whatever arbitrary number we have picked that we are finally going to be successful, thin, happy, relaxed and balanced, or whatever else we pick to work on.  Then as that birthday approaches we evaluate our progress.  Especially as we get older, we really look at what we have accomplished and what we have missed out on in life.  Funny how time becomes so much more precious as we age isn’t it?  

 

Most people do not consciously decide to set ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ while on vacation.  As for myself, it is a very powerful time to do so.  Every summer, I go to the Redwoods for a very deep spiritual retreat.  I spend a lot of time in prayer and mediations with the heavens reviewing the last year of my spiritual work and determine what the course of the next year should be.  I set a lot of intentions at that time and reflect deeply on the spiritual parts of my journey through life.  

 

It is not so unusual while on vacation to promise ourselves that this year we are going to carry that peaceful feeling of our annual vacations with us throughout the next year.  This year we are going to stay in balance and harmony.  This year we are going to love more and stress less.  This year we are not going to miss out on family time by spending so many long hours at the office.  This year we are going to save up enough money to finally take that special vacation to that exotic island or Disneyland or Ireland or Australia or wherever it is that we still have not gotten to yet.  This year, I am going to put more freedom and vacations into my life!  

 

In September, I have a parental-type New Year as my children go off to school.  As they start the new school year with fresh intentions and hopes and dreams, I too set new intentions as a parent that I too will do better than the year before.  This year I will do a better job of parenting, teaching, guiding, and supporting them.  My oldest boy especially sets his New Year’s Resolutions around Labor Day Weekend.  This year he is going to get good grades.  This year he is going to do all of his assignments on time and not put it off until it is too late.  This year, my daughter is going to make new friends.  This year, I am going to do a better job of following up on their homework assignments and this year I am going to volunteer to help out at the school so I can get more involved.  This year, I am going to pay more attention and remember to cheer when they are doing well in school.  

 

So, why do we need to have a big formal year-end accounting just because the fiscal calendar says so?  Even the phrase ‘New Year’s Resolution’ sounds so big and ominous.  I always secretly feel like some kind of a flake if I do not set New Year’s Resolutions at this time.  But which shall I set?  I set goals all year long.  I wouldn’t want to simply regurgitate the same old ones I made earlier in the year.  What is the point of a special day for setting one’s intentions?  We spend November reflecting on why we are thankful and December giving of our hearts and souls as a result.  So, why do we have to end the year by telling ourselves to shape up and do better?  Probably because that ten pounds has been here for way too many years… and my hair really is an unruly mess!

 

Copyright 2003, 2005, Skye Thomas, Tomorrow’s Edge

 

Want to chat with the author?