Resolutions

At the start of the new year, it’s traditional to make a few resolutions. It’s also traditional that before the end of January, those resolutions have been forgotten.

This year I’m going to avoid specific goals. My plan is to say flexible so I can adapt to the challenges that the year will bring. To meet the goal of flexibility, I plan to put myself in positions that allow for a multitude of options.

That sounds vague, but maybe a few examples will clarify my plan.

If a person is buried in debt and has no savings or credit left, their financial goals are limited.

People totally out of condition don’t have the opportunity to climb many mountains.

Prisoners have lost most of their options.

Now a lot of people think that they’d have the most options if they were wealthy. That’s not always the case. Wealth has its own chains. I know a man who loved being a teacher. However, he left teaching because he was expected to manage the family fortune. He felt so trapped by that responsibility that in a few years he committed suicide.

Some may say he could have refused the family and kept teaching. In his mind suicide was a more viable option that disappointing the family.

Our options are limited by a lack of imagination, courage, and will. We might not have a fortune to manage, but often we fall into roles other people expect us to keep fulfilling -even when they no longer satisfy our needs. Routine can be like an old friend, but just because it’s an old friend doesn’t mean it’s a good friend.

My resolutions for 2012 is to position myself in such a way that I have options.

Good luck with your plans for the new year, whatever they may be.

-Sixbears