Resolution.
I like that word. Some words are powerful and this is one of English’s more fascinating, compelling words. Like many words in English, the word resolution can mean different things, depending on the context.
- It can mean a firm decision to do or not to do something.
Intention. Resolve. Plan.
2. It can also mean the action of solving a problem, dispute, or contentious matter.
Solution. Settlement. Ending.
Not all resolutions are peaceful. While I believe that we must all strive for peace, some resolutions require a grisly, perhaps even violent end. The power rests in the preservation of a resolution’s finality.
Resolutions.
I like to think of them as goals. As the new year quickly approaches, I find myself thinking more and more about the adventures that 2016 holds, while still reflecting on the many highs and lows of 2015. What a roller-coaster of a year.
The roller-coaster has become a modern theme in literature because it so aptly describes the intense twists and turns, highs and lows, of life’s many adventures. I suppose life itself is a roller-coaster of sorts. Most of the time, we cannot know what the next turn holds or what is just around the bend. 2015 was a great example for many of us concerning those roller-coaster moments called life. 2015 brought a few sad endings, watered with tears of bitterness and despair. The past year also brought new beginnings seeded by stirrings of hope and joy.
2015 saw the end of certain relationships, the resurrection of old ones, and the creation of new ones. 2015 created new storms on the horizon, but 2015 also created new vessels and fellow soul-stirring adventurers up to the task.
Resolution is a word of power because it involves you making the move, making the decision to change your world. It is not merely a wish upon a faraway star or a whisper into the wind; it takes effort, it may take all your have. In 2016, I yearn to repair the damage done to myself and others from years past. Like so many others, I want lose weight and achieve greatness in the physical reality of one’s self. Like last year, I want to work on the craft of writing and constantly get better in that endeavor. Aside from those, my top four resolutions are as follows:
1. Be my/yourself. We live in a world where we are so afraid to be ourselves. We live in a world where stress and anxiety are the rulers of our minds because we are consumed with being who others’ want and/or need us to be. Accept your inner demons, appreciate your talents, find your callings, and never stop trying to be the best version of your true self that you can be.
I will try if you try, too.
2. Acceptance. Learn to accept the words, actions, and feelings of other people. Forgive the misspoken words and inaction of those who come up short, while also protecting my own heart. There is a defining lesson between forgiving and forgetting. Forgiveness is difficult to unselfishly offer and even harder to accept. This year, find the peace in forgiving certain people for things that they both knowingly and unknowingly did. Find the balance in bringing closure to those painful times while preserving the distance necessary for healing.
I will offer you forgiveness and accept yours.
3. Be present. Fully embrace the future while living completely in the present. I have always been one to live in the past, which means I sometimes miss out on the grand adventures right in front of me. I brood over the past and desperately fear the future so much that I am absent from the present.
I will learn to live in the moment, while not repeating the mistakes of the past.
4. Love recklessly, give restlessly. Love without boundaries and give without rest or need of reciprocity. We humans are so afraid to love fully because we know that in doing so, we are opening ourselves up to pain and setting ourselves up for failure. Give of yourself freely: your time, your compassion, your gentleness, your mercy, your unconditional love, your warmth. Give it all recklessly without an obsession for glory or repayment. Give it all restlessly without rest, as wild and freeing as possible. I will stop retreating from the hurt that people can cause and face it head on. Without attempting to change it or protest, embrace the fact that not everyone can give you what you need and know that not everyone can love you the way that you need to be loved in that moment. Let go of selfishness and learn to endure the loneliness and pain that selflessness embodies.
I understand that I will always care more about someone than they do me. However, I will not let that stop me from giving all of me.
Resolutions.
I understand that this next year will bring storms, danger, and death in whatever aspect it can muster. There is no way to outrun these things forever. Though we never know when those times will come, we never know which day will be our last or even which step will be our final one, we must do what we can to make those times easier. We are all marked with a date of expiration, though invisible to us with our human eyes, it is stamped in our volume of life regardless. We must make every moment count and in order to do so, we must learn to love and learn to give. After all, you cannot pack up such things in a carry-on bag and take them with you.
Stop looking for what divides us. Rather, look for the things that complement and unite us all. Smile at people, especially at those who look like they could really use a smile.
2016 will make or break us.
May 2016 open up an entire new world of dreams that were once locked away. May 2016 bring peace to the wild, raging storms in your distance. May 2016 bring into and keep people in your life that make you feel like anything is possible, because the truth is, anything is possible…