A reflection on last year's resolutions, and a few for 2011

At first glance, 2010 didn't feel like a super productive year. When I looked back at my resolutions for the year, however, I wasn't too far off track.

Here's a recap of last year's resolutions:

Write more/become a better writer. I can check this one off my list. While I didn't write for Inner Thoughts & Outbursts every week, I did, in fact, write more than I had in 2009, and became a better writer to boot. Over the course of the year, I discovered that I wanted to focus on other writing projects like my 15-Minute Party Planner blog. Conclusion: Adapting resolutions so that they better suit your overall goals is still a great form of self-improvement!

Pay attention to the positive. This one can get tough sometimes, but I feel like I did a pretty good job! I faithfully wrote in my Good Thing of the Day book nearly every day, and I've been focusing on the good things in my life. I also drew some inspiration from Erma Bombeck's If I Had My Life to Live Over. The piece reminded me not to wait for "someday", but to use the pretty candles and the fancy office supplies today. I didn't worry about breaking the dishes, I just used them to make dinners fancier.

Get healthier. Alright, maybe this one didn't work out as well as I hoped for. I did set the stage for some good habits -- I bought a bicycle, got a rice cooker (for faster, healthier meals), and tried to walk whenever I could while running errands. Oh well; a less than stellar outcome is inspiration to try again.

Do things for me. This resolution felt connected to focusing on the positive. I found joy in using pretty things for everyday uses and took time to craft, write, and do things I enjoy. Most significantly, I left a stressful job this year. While I left my job because of a cross-state move, it was a bit scary to become unemployed. Instead of panicking, however, I embraced the break from work and concentrated on putting my new house in order, organizing my writing, and spending time with friends and family. I couldn't be happier with the outcome.

Now, when it comes to this year, my general resolution is to keep learning and growing. More specifically, I hope to make small changes that add up to big changes. In 2011, I hope to...

• Get moving! This year I will exercise every day. I know myself. There's no hope in saying I'll go to the gym four days a week for an hour each time, but I can get my butt in gear for a mere 10 minutes every day. Some days I'll spend an hour with a Wii fitness game, and other days I'm sure I'll ride my bike for an hour, but it's good to know that on the days that I feel like I just can't do it, I can spend 10 minutes doing jumping jacks. Something is better than nothing, and I feel more confident making a small goal than developing a big goal that is bound to disappoint me.
  
  
• Spend time doing things I love. I'm on the hunt for a new job, and I have a few promising prospects. If I have to work for a living (and who doesn't?) I hope that it's at a job I love. And when I'm not working, I hope to spend time crafting, reading, and trying to embrace life.
  
  
• Simplify. Think my resolutions sound simple this year? They're intended to be. There's no need to create 10 resolutions you can't live up to when you can create one or two that you know you can accomplish. I hope this simplicity helps me be the best person I can be!
  

Beauty and the beach

Someone famous (the Internet attributes everyone from Albert Einstein to Benjamin Franklin, so who knows?) once said, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

I think about my daily life and its routine. I wake up, get ready, drive to work, work all day, drive home, get ready for the next day, go to bed, and do everything over again the next day and the one after that and the one after that. Occasionally my evenings are peppered with classes or dinners with friends, and on the weekends I like to the theatre or a sporting event. But for the most part, my life is predictable.

So as I wait (as I believe many young people do) for "the next big thing" to happen in my life, I shouldn't be surprised that something new and exciting is unlikely to happen to me by doing the same things over and over.

This week I'm on vacation. On this trip, as with any other I've taken, I find myself torn between relaxing and exploring. Catching up on sleep and packing as much into a day as possible. So while I relished the idea of a lazy morning, I was more interested in the unexpected. It was time for different results.

Though I like to think of myself as a morning person, those mornings rarely begin before seven. Today, however, I woke up at five o'clock and dressed by the light of the fireplace in my hotel room. I enjoyed a quick breakfast there as well, then grabbed my camera and headed out into the still-dark morning.

Now, I'm no sunbather, but I've always loved the ocean. I love the sound the waves make as they rumble along and crash into the surf and the rocks. I love the smell of the salt water, the briny air, and coconut-scented sunblock. I love sticking my toes in the cold surf, finding bits of sea glass, and searching for shells. So I chose this vacation spot to try to sneak in some time with the beach before the summer crowds hit.

When I reached the waterfront this morning, it was completely deserted. Not a single soul was walking or running along the beach, and the birds weren't yet awake. I breathed in the salty fresh ocean air and smiled. It felt incredibly indulgent to have the beach to myself and I took the time to drink in my surroundings. Here was the ocean, stretched before me (and only me): a deep dark line and a slightly lighter blue one, split across the horizon by a tiny strip of pinkish orange.

I took a hundred photos of that sunrise. As dawn broke brighter across the sky, joggers and dog walkers started to speckle the path along the beach. Most of them looked like they were engrossed in their own routines; I suspect I was the only tourist among them. And I wondered if they were appreciative of the beauty of the ocean and the sunrise, or if this was merely their own version of the same thing over and over again. If I spent each morning greeting the sun on the beach, would I feel as though I have achieved my "next big thing"? Or would that, too, become a piece of my day to day routine, easy overlooked and under-appreciated?

I like to think that not only can I do different things for different results, but I can do the same things differently. I'd like to appreciate the little things in my life that seem monotonous, but really do bring me a lot of joy. I love waking up to the sun streaming in my window each morning, and I'm forever grateful to see the Boston skyline each morning as I drive into work. I'm lucky enough to have colleagues with whom I get along, and a family that loves me. So while I try new things and pack in new experiences, I'm also going to make a new experience out of the routine. It's my hope that just by looking at things differently I'll be able to produce a few new results. That way, I don't have to wait for the next big thing to happen to me -- I can go looking for it.

Photos by Danielle E. Brown.