how do you do New Years?

How do you hold onto the optimism you have on New Year’s Eve?

I always feel so … hopeful.  So … excited.  I feel like the New Year glimmers in front of me.  A fresh start.  A clean slate.  A break from the old … and a chance to REALLY start over, dust off all the bad habits and crusty attitudes.

I know you can do this each morning.  Each and every day.  As the heroine in one of my favorite children’s book series said (Anne of Green Gables), “tomorrow is fresh, with no mistakes in it.”  And God always promises that, at any time we can shrug off the old, the dusty, the bad, the wrong, the yucky (what, your Bible doesn’t use the word “yucky”??) and start anew.  Fresh!  Every DAY!

But there is just something … extra sparkling … extra promising about the New Year.  I look forward to it … and have high hopes.  And plan.  And make LISTS!!!!!  Each year.

Then.

You go to bed … and wake up in that same bed …

And, I don’t know about you, but I sure feel the same.  And, if not that day, surely the next, I act/talk/feel/think the same.  Automatically.  Like I didn’t even think or plan or list how I wanted things and thoughts to be different.

Am I alone in this?

Now, I’m not looking to change EVERYTHING.  I have a great life.  A great husband and home and family and friends.  I’m blessed.

But … I would like to think differently sometimes.  Act differently in certain situations.  Think differently.  Make different decisions.  Healthier decisions inside and out.

And here it is, day three … and I’ve changed nothing.  Eaten poorly.  Thought some … uncharitable thoughts.  Forgotten completely the desire to really assess my store purchases before just blindly spending.  And these are all areas I would like to improve in.

How do YOU do this?  Keep these desires forefront in your mind?  Keep the New Year fresh? Each day?

xoxo