The New Year

To say that 2008 has been a frustrating one for me is a huge understatement. It has been stressful, full of compromises, and huge life decisions whose results haven't been confirmed as the right ones just yet. If I am grateful about one thing about 2008 is that it was a healthy year.

There is nothing I can do but be hopeful about the new year. I strongly believe that it will be a better year all in all. The dire financial situation obviously affected Yours Truly as well and the effects have hit home a lot harder than I thought imaginable.

I am not a spiritualist person and I have a sincere disdain against religious dogma. There have been moments when I thought maybe my beliefs, or lack thereof, was responsible for the unfortunate situations I had to face this year. This is not a piece of repentance, but an honest confession, if you will, about how I felt. I feel somebody has been punishing me for what I don't know. I don't necessarily believe in karma - I think it is nothing but glorified coincidence.

"Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things." These words were uttered by Red in The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - a film that many hold close to heart. I am no different. Perhaps, that's what makes us humans go forward, because when facing everything that life throws at them, it is surprising that an infinitesimal proportion of human population resort to suicide. I want to take this chance to be selfish and wish a better year in every way for myself and my loved ones. Then I would like to extend that wish to everyone else. I already feel bad about this statement, but you need a little bit of that selfish gene to really survive.

It is a futile attempt to expect things to improve after an astronomical event that is the beginning of a new cycle of the Earth rotating around the Sun. If things really do improve without any sort of interference on my part, then the result is again coincidence. So, I am aware that I need to make a lot of changes in myself to make things improve.

I present you - in no particular order or importance - my New Year's Resolutions:

- be more pro-active in life: there is so much more this world has to offer and I need to learn to pry them out of wherever they are hiding. If things need to get done, they need a catalyst. And who is a better catalyst than me?

- be more understanding: I have always prided myself to be person that values tolerance above all other human virtues, but this year I have seen that concept dwindling. In order to have a positive attitude about things, I need that tolerance level back up to speed.

- take more responsibilities: I have grown immensely over the last few years and that brings a lot more responsibilities that are a little more serious in their level of importance than the ones back in college. I need to tackle those responsibilities head-on and make sure to carry them out accordingly.

- be more creative: this is something that has been lacking in 2008. The main reason, I believe, was my preoccupation with a lot of other external conflicts I needed to resolve. I believe this particular resolution can only be feasible with the proper application of the preceding resolutions. Hence, I'll get back to you on this one.

- lose more weight: it is a time-honored cliche to have this resolution on your list. I have shed 30 pounds this year, but over the last couple of months I seem to have put some of them back on. In order to be realistically healthy, I need to get back on the treadmill and shed those fatty tissues once again.

I pledge, with my hand on my conscience and mind, that I will carry out these resolutions. Because, if not, then this year will be a very, very bad one indeed.

Peace.