On Resolutions...

I never make resolutions for the New Year. I will, however, make writing goals, but I specifically try not to make "life" goals. But...
I heard something, or read something, or something - I'm not sure exactly where, so if you said it to me, credit yourself in the comments...And I don't remember it word for word, either.
Anyway.
The gist of it was, that you never face something new - a new job, a new chapter in your life, a new year, without wanting it to be your best, without wanting it to be "different". Even if you simply want to be a better person, or enjoy things more, or do the best job you can.
I guess that's why people make resolutions - because it's new. And maybe there's a lot to be said for the hope in that. If you start something new with no hope that it will be different than the old, then how do things ever change? You don't, because you're stuck in that hole of "well, same crap, different time/place/thing". And that's kind of sucky.
Maybe I'm talking about two different things - hope and change - but you can't have good change without hope. So, maybe I do believe in resolutions a little - in the hope and the excitement and the promise of the new. Maybe my problem is with how resolutions are made. You know, the ridiculous laundry list of things that are either beyond your control, or are in your control, but you're never going to do it. Maybe you only say you will because you feel like you have to.
For example: You're a smoker and you know you should quit. You don't really want to, but on New Year's Eve you make a big deal out of quitting because you have to have a resolution. Then, by 12:05am, you say "After I finish this pack", then, the next morning your boss calls and gives you heck because you messed up the Davis account and you say "I'm so stressed right now. I need a new pack, but once that one's done, I'm done too". If you really wanted to quit, nothing would stop you. Stop lying to yourself.
I think that's what bugs me about resolutions.
But the hope thing...I really like that. I do have hope that 2012 will be an awesome year. I also realize some of the things that will help to make it awesome are things within my control. And that's what I have to think about...
Behave!