By Ashley McCardia
The Holidays are here! Thus, it is safe to assume the binge eating, wrapping, shopping and cooking has commenced! This is such a fabulous time of year for most of us. We are with family and friends and there is such a generous and cheery vibe everywhere you go. There is something about this time of year that makes us all feel a bit different. It always puts me in a little more positive mood. We spend our year working hard and doing “life” so most of us find ourselves in a bit of a reflective mentality around this time. When I look back on my year and things I have done, I almost always think about what I would have done differently. What would I have changed if I could? This usually leads me to think about resolutions… a time honored tradition that most, if not all, of us have participated in at one time or another. A good amount of us are going to be scribbling down our transient resolutions come 11:46 pm December 31st. We will all vow to be a better wife, husband, mother or father. Lose ten pounds or work harder in 2013. We will promise ourselves, others and maybe even God, that we will try harder in life, to be better next year. Then we will go to sleep, and good ole’ January 1st will roll around and more than likely, we will be the exact same person we were the night before. Doing the exact same things. Not changing our ways, not making progress or being better than we were the year prior. So my question is, why do we set lofty goals, one time a year, every year, and fail over and over again? We act as if the moment the ball drops is this enchanted time that everyone is given a second chance to do things better and differently. Now, I am all for hope and symbolism but does this sound ridiculous to anyone else? What about the moment you wake up from an unconscious state every single morning? Is this not an opportunity to improve yourself? Every time you inhale, you are receiving another chance to be better. Forget symbolism; forget dates and time and millennia. There are a million and one “chances” to make a change if that is what you want to do. I feel like if change is something you want, it isn’t something you should seek once a year, it is something you should actively do with fervor and purpose. So, when you hear Auld Lang Syne this year, let it be a reminder of your daily resolve, not your annual fleeting inspiration.