Idealism

Oh blog.  How have I neglected thee?  Let me count the ways.

First post of the new year.  2012.  It has been an interesting year thus far...  I expect it to be a good one.  12 has always been my favorite number and this will be my only '12 year of life, so I'm hoping that holds some sort of sway.

The new year has always been a time for people to resolve to be better; and really, what better time to start afresh?  With a whole new, clean, blankly-slated year ahead, we are presented with an opportunity to be a new person going forward.  I love that concept.  Most years, I make a solid group of resolutions of things that I want to do better.  Most years, they never fully come to fruition.  Yes, sadly enough, I'm one of those people.  And it's not for lack of desire, but more for lack of focus.  With my 5-year-old mind, I generally just get distracted.  Surprised?  So this year I thought I'd try something a little different.  Behold:

I read a lil somethin somethin recently that talked briefly about one's ideals.  Ideals can be a driving force, both used to make sound decisions and as motivation towards an end.  But, when placed too high, they can also be a detriment to the idealist.  The part that I found most interesting was the section on one's ideal self as I recognized that the same concept applies.  Setting one's personal standard too high makes it nearly impossible to reach, and can have an effect directly opposite of the one desired.  I can relate.  Now I can't remember whether my follow-up thought was my own or if it came from the reading, so I'm going to guess that it was somewhere in the reading (that's what I get for waiting so long to write about it :( ) ):  Ideally, one's ideal self today would simply be something a little bit better than they were the day before.  If I did or said something dumb in the past, don't do it again today.  If I failed to do something I should've, do it next time the opportunity arises.  If I did something good yesterday, do something great today.  I simply need to be aware of what's going on and recognize where improvement can be made. Ultimately, my ideal self is going to be legit--I've got plans.  I'll get there. Eventually.

So I guess that's kind of my resolution.  I don't know if it can be considered a cop-out, but I've tried similar things in the past and it has worked.  That doesn't mean that I don't have specific things that I recognize I need to improve, but I feel like having this mentality will help to improve those.  And I can always add in more specific goals wherever it may be necessary.  It is 2012 after all.  Anything is possible. But this is the start to the ideal me.

Here's to 2012.