Why Pursue a Resolution

Cousins- Charlotte, Lawrie, Anne, me and Drew

I don't know about you all, but when I woke up on December 21st and the Mayan calendar was put to shame, not a whole lot changed in my life. I wasn't all of a sudden more grateful than I already am for the time I've been given to live, nor did I really care that much that they were wrong. It was just another day. Not in the sense that every day I get on an airplane to head off to the Caribbean (nod to the photograph), but you know what I mean. Similar feelings, or lack there of, have settled in my heart about the new year. Before I continue with my thought, everyone reading this PLEASE note that you should say "Happy New Year" not "Happy New Years." We are celebrating but ONE new year. Sorry, pet peeve, and now you've learned something. Anyways, today is January 1, 2013. I don't believe in the whole "this year will be the best one yet," as if each time the earth revolves around the sun is equivalent to a life reset button.

Who among us has truly accomplished something great as a result of a New Year's resolution? I'm sure many of us have lost seven pounds in January (only to gain eight in February), or perhaps we have stopped using foul language or made deliberate efforts to be more patient. However, did Celine Dion wake up on January 1, 198-something and decide to make her singing career happen? Did Thomas Edison decide on New Year's eve that he would become more interested in electricity? Did Kim Kardashian start dating Kanye because she wanted to die with a man by her side on the Mayan doomsday? Ehhh...actually, that last one is probably a yes. Still, people don't experience the biggest successes of their lives because of the start of a new calendar year. Marriage, careers, deep contentment...these things all start in one of two ways: luck or pursuance over time. Often both. You may say "well, you can START pursuing something on January 1st." True, however the goals to which we commit generally can't be reached without motivation. Motivation is the key to pursuance. And as much as I adore Ryan Seacrest, listening to him count down while the ball drops hardly motivates me to do anything more than refill my champagne glass while I watch couples around me swap spit.

These past few months, I've been more focused than ever on my singing career. I took a three week intensive musical theatre workshop with one of the top casting directors in New York City, found an absolutely spectacular vocal coach, and learned seven or eight new songs. Two things motivated me to do so: 1) losing my mom to cancer and 2) having one particular moment where I looked around and realized, very fearfully, where I don't want to be in 10 years. Knowing who I want to be for my mom/biggest fan and who I want to be for my own pride and longterm happiness made getting the ball rolling a lot easier for me. I am 24 and will blink and be 30. If I want a career outside of the restaurant industry, I can't pray a producer moves in next door and discovers me while I sing around my apartment. That'd be awesome, actually, and perhaps I won't stop praying for that. However, the reality is that I'll have to wait in some really long audition lines at 7am, take plenty of classes to improve, maybe start stretching so I can dance better (ugh, only maybe), and start surrounding myself with people who have similar goals and are working just as hard to achieve them.

Now, obviously I don't wish the pain of losing a family member or any sort of tragedy on anyone in order to provide motivation for life change, but if life is going to be better in 2013, it has to be for some reason other than "no better time to start than January 1st." The good news is that inspirational or light-fire-under-your-butt moments happen more often than we know. We just can't be too lazy to recognize them. Learn from the people around you- who you want to be, who you don't want to be, who you want to befriend, who you wish you had back, and who you should let go. You can find motivation in just about anyone. I firmly believe that humans are a lot like songbirds. Each of us is a unique song, made up of all the other songs we've heard around us. We can pick and choose our melodies and in turn spread our tunes to everyone around us. Perhaps that sounds cheesy, but I believe it to be an accurate depiction of who we become and what we achieve. Community, culture, and other indivuduals are the ultimate shapers of Self.

So, on this new year, keep an eye out for motivational experiences and people- both good and bad- that you might usually overlook, and perhaps you will start pursuing something much greater than only eating chocolate on weekends. And hopefully we'll all have a little luck this year, too. Any worthy bachelors still out there?? ;)