New Year’s eve has something quite special to it. The thought of moving into a new year is exciting. We get a chance to try again every 365 days. Another chance to try and be more organized, a better friend, a better parent, a chance to try and be kinder, slimmer and maybe smile more. Yet most people know that resolutions don’t last. A friend who used to have a bakery said that New Year’s resolutions last precisely 17 days. That’s right. After 17 days of quietness, she said, people would start flooding the bakery again, slimming resolutions and all left at home or chucked on some frosty sidewalk like a piece of gum that lost its flavour.
I never went crazy on setting resolutions, but this year is the first when I am skinny-dipping in the ocean of what’s ahead and go without any resolutions. You see, ever since I started writing, I loved getting a new notebook and starting writing in it. That first page euphoria followed me around all these years like a faithful dog. I love my laptop but it doesn’t even come close to writing the first word on that first page of a brand new notebook. And every time I did that I was trying to promise myself to make good use of every page. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn’t. Knowing that each page will eventually succumb to scribbling in pen or pencil made me be careful and remorseful too when things did not work as planned and I always moved on to the next page hoping I’ll make good use of it.
I woke up with a good solid thought on the first morning of this New Year: Make every day count. Just like I was trying to make every page count. Some would say it sounds like a resolution, others will argue that it’s a hazy one. Well, categorizing can easily become a waste of time. Not going there. So here’s my thought, all fresh and delicious like some of the goodies in that bakery where slimming resolutions died at the door. I’ll make every day count. Whether it is writing, running, biking, reading, helping someone, laughing and playing with my boys, listening, caring, feeling and acting grateful, making someone’s day better, I’ll do it. All of these every day or a few, or just one. Sprinkle some of first page euphoria magic dust on every morning and let it work. Come to think about it, I’ll have morning to night to make every day count. All 365 of them, not just 17. Now that’s a pretty sweet deal.