New Year Resolutions - Are They Worth It?

My dearest friends,

My dear readers and my online family :) I really hope you had a wonderful Christmas next to the ones you love, care and cherish; I hope that the true gift of Christmas - love, family and togetherness - reached you;  I also hope that you had a magical New Year's Eve, most probably traditionally spent with friends dear to you. Probably at this hour you are sound asleep in your beds, having fairy dreams of the new year that just came... it was knocking fast at our door and now... here it is! 2016 is here - are you ready for it? :) I am not ready, to tell you the truth - I will change the prefix this year, I'll be 30... so I guess that I would have to officially behave like an adult... neah! Cross that out! I will always be 7 years old at heart :) 

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As it is a New Year, everyone is in a hurry to create their very own brand new lists, brand new resolutions (which in 90% of the cases are very much the same as the year before - the generic: I will quit smoking as it is bad for me, I will not eat sweets (especially chocolate) and I will exercise daily, I will read more books to enrich my culture, (and my very own:) I will learn Polish language and I will be fluent in it...). I say, cross all that out! We, as people who cannot handle not having a plan, we construct continuously plans, we set standards and we feel bad if we don't reach them. We do another thing that drives me mad: we project our lists upon others - if I am a happy mother, if everyone my age has a baby, than truly it is a must that everyone should have one. If they don't, they screwed something up... 

Now let me tell you something: everyone of us, the people upon this world, are made alike by God, yet we are different (though the same...). I know that is a hard notion to handle, but as we are physically different, we also have different wants and needs. The way we think and the experiences we had along time, the genetic background and the way our brain works... makes us want different things. Of course, cutting all desire and dreams aside, everyone has the basic desires to live and be loved, to breed (have children), foster, grow old next to the ones you love & then die and be reunited with God. Now if you take my example, I was travelling since I was a wee lass in my mother's womb - we always laugh that that's why I live it so. For me, a point on the "New Year Resolutions" List would be: Travel More!

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I wish everyone would put their lists aside and really think them through. What is truly important for you? And does it really matter to have a list? I think more important is have a plan. A list without a plan is nothing, also a plan is nothing without a "safety net" plan... there are so many things that could come between you and the plan, so that you constantly bedded to think out of the box! I didn't have a "New Year Resolutions" List last year... we preferred to go with the flow and we rather focused on a different list: "The Bucket List" - managing to cut out: tandem parachute jumping, zorbing, shooting with real guns (not quite lady like but I loved the thrill and I shot a Winchester and I liked it, yeah! Make that 12 rounds of Smith & Weston M&P 15-22 (rifle - my very favourite!), 7 times a Winchester Defender S×P ("shot gun" rifle) and 5 times a revolver Taurus. Now that's something I will remember my entire life!) and visiting a couple of new countries ( Switzerland - Zurich, Czech Republic - Prague, Belgium - Brussels) and a few new cities in Poland (Wroclaw, Nowy Sacz, Krynica, Bochnia). I think that was way better: having a long term plan vs. medium plan, focusing on one year. 

What I observed along time was the fact that people like to have "New Year Resolutions" List with material and earthly things that he'll only themselves. That is one very self centered list! Just think about it! You would like a better job/car, you would like to lose weight, you would like to quit smoking... you, you, YOU! It is true the fact that the only person you can change is only yourself and it is always good to try and chance and be the best version of yourself, but... how about thinking big for once? Thinking what you could do for others or what you can do with others - like myself, I always think of my better half and the things we could do together, growing together. How about going forward and thinking of your microcosmos - the people in your area that you could "touch" and help? When was the last time you cleaned your closet and sent the things you don't need to the Red Cross? When was the last time you gave a gift to someone put of the blue? (Christmas, Saint Nicholas and birthdays do not count!) When is the last time you smiled to someone on the street or gave someone your chair in the public transport? When was the last time you did a Random Act of Kindness?

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Have a look at the year that passed and don't tell anyone, talk to yourself and settle down on the things that made you happy - the things that made you smile - and do more of that! Be good to the people around you and invest in the things that matter. The time flies by so fast, and you will never be able to turn it back, so make sure you do the right thing at the right time. Think of the Random Acts of Kindness that you can do. Make someone's day better. If you have no idea, just have a look at the movie "Pay it Forward" and maybe that will make you understand more how the world should truly work like. Start with small steps, baby steps, and try to do this once a month - once a week, until you will see that eventually will be doing this on a daily basis. Smile and the whole world will smile with you (eventually), so don't let anything get you down! :) 

P.S. Don't forget that today you can watch at 11 am - 12 (somewhere around this time...) the wonderfully magical New Year's Eve Concert, live from Vienna. Be prepared for music your ears and heart will thank you. Both Polish and Romanian national television has live transmission - ever since I was a wee lass I can remember watching that every year with my family. That was a tradition that will always be on my list ;) (if ever I would make one...)

P.S.S. And... one more thing: Live, Laugh, Love! But most or all, LOVE! Loving is the most important thing in this world. All things may pass, but Love will last forever! :) 

Yours truly, 

The Twisted Red LadyBug that has no "New Year Resolutions" List