This is supposed to be a list of goals for 2010, but let’s be realistic; who knows what this year will bring. I’m just going to focus on February for now. Maybe if I’m really good about it, I’ll revisit this in March to see how I did.
Health:
- Drink plenty of water.
- Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
- Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
- Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
- Play more games.
- Read more books.
- Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
Personality:
- Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
- Don’t dwell on negative thoughts. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
- Don’t overdo. Keep your limits.
- Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
- Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
- Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
- Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
- Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
- No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
- Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away, but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
- Smile and laugh more.
- You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
Society:
- Call your family often.
- Each day give something good to others.
- Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
- Try to make at least three people smile each day.
- What other people think of you is none of your business.
- Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
Life:
- Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
- However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
- No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
- Remember that the best is yet to come.
[List edited from an email from Mia.]
Any time I whip my car into a parking spot, I think two things.
1. Man, that was easy.
2. I can’t believe that was so easy.
I don’t have too many vivid memories from days gone by, but the day pops tried to teach me to park in between two cars is burned forever into my memory. It went something like this*:
“I can’t do it!”
“Yes you can. Just calm down.”
“It’s NEVER going to happen. There’s not enough room, I swear.”
“Yes there is. Why is your face turning red?”
“This is stupid. I don’t even want to get my license anyway.”
“#%$%^”
“!@#%&%”
“OK, we’re leaving.”
*(Some creative license taken.)
Let’s just say it wasn’t the best hour of my life. It took a while for me to stop trying to calculate the turning angle, and just do it already. (I have a tendency to overthink things. It’s kind of a thing.) Pretty sure I passed the driver’s test shortly thereafter; parking lot parking wasn’t part of the test anyway. Once I got the external confirmation that I was legal to drive, I stopped having issues pulling into spaces. Go figure, huh?
Today, I pride myself on my stellar parking skills. (It must be a genetic thing – pops thinks he’s the king of parallel parking, so we’ll go with that.) When I was 16, not so much. No way, no how, would I ever be able to do that. The older and wiser me laughs at it now.
As I was parking at the grocery store the other day, I had a third thought: What will I be laughing at myself for in 10 years?
Eds. Note: You guys know this post isn’t about parking, right?
I’m trying not to covet things, but I really want this print.
If nobody buys it for me, I’ll just have to come back here and keep reminding myself of its lovely message.
- Remember when when I rang in the new year with a sinus infection and hacking cough?
- Or the time I went too fast down a hill on a sled, landed on my head and got whiplash?
- How about when I ate gluten-filled pizza and was rewarded with a 4-day migraine?
- Let’s not forget the time I went to the fancy famous surgeon and he told me my knees are borked and unfixable. That was my favorite.
That all happened in the last 22 days. Swell. 2010 is off to an interesting start, let’s just say.
Despite the ways my body might fail me, to look at me, you really wouldn’t know anything was wrong. Which is what I want to talk about today, not invite you all to my pity party. (Which is Tuesday. And you’re totally invited.)
But first, cue the music:
In some way, for some reason, everybody hurts. It could be a physical pain that will go away tomorrow or an emotional wound that might take years to heal. Some of those hurts can be ignored and will disappear on their own but I’m betting a lot of them need to be shared.
As mentioned last week, we’re pretty good about helping other people. It’s in our nature. But what happens when we don’t know if someone needs help? Not every problem comes with earth shattering evidence and a film crew.
Lots of people don’t like to complain, or appear vulnerable, or ask other people for help. Some people don’t have anybody to turn to when they feel like crap. Most people are like me – they have pains that are invisible.
Over the years I’ve learned to express my hurts. Sometimes I whine, or cry, or make a joke, but I try really hard to not bottle myself up. It probably gets annoying at times, but trust me, you don’t want my crankiness to fester. That is way worse. (See: ages 13-17) But this isn’t about me. This is about the people you interact with every day, or pass on the street, or share a bus ride with.
I’m not saying we need to heal the world; that’s not a thing. I’m saying that we need to keep this in the back of our minds – everybody hurts. So be nice. Or at least nicer.
Yeah, you might encounter some royal jerk on the street who cuts you off or a coworker who spreads rumors about you. People suck sometimes. I get it. But don’t add to it. My mother always said there were no bad people, just people with bad behavior. Maybe that bad behavior comes because Joe has a wicked headache or Jane just got some devastating news. No, it doesn’t excuse them, but it might help you deal with them without flying off the handle, or having bad behavior yourself.
Spread some positive energy out into the world. You’ll feel better, and who knows, maybe it will help start to heal all of those unspoken pains out there.
I contemplated writing a “year in review” post, but it kinda freaked me out. Sit down and think about all that’s happened to me this year? All that I’ve done? All that I let slip by? No thanks.
There certainly was a ton of good in 2009, with some not-so-good thrown in for balance. I don’t need to go over the details to know it’s been one of my best.
In the spirit of “moving forward,” let’s just remember the laughter we shared this past year and seek to double it in 2010.
New year. New start.

