Happy New Year’s! Those words have been in the air for the last few days and will linger there for a few more. Many of us look at the New Year as an opportunity to start life anew with big resolutions, like to quit smoking, diet or to simply make small changes in our lives.
I look back on 2009 as a year of learning— learning to take things a bit easier while still tending to business. I have also learned to enjoy my own company more than I ever have. Sometimes I just sit and laugh at myself. I think I’m pretty darn funny. Others may not agree, but that doesn’t bother me. I have found that having a sense of humor has gotten me further than not. Taking unpleasant situations, cranky people, and circumstances beyond my control too seriously always proves to be disastrous to my peace of mind.
I am lucky to have been born to parents who enjoyed laughing. Sometimes Dad and I would take it a bit too far, and Mom would ask us to “settle down,” but I know she got a kick out of us. We’d be laughing so hard that I would get the hiccups, and then the whole thing would start all over again. I love those memories. Dad’s been gone more than thirty years now, and although his laughter is no more, my mom and I find humor in just about everything— especially when others don’t. She really is my best audience, and sometimes I do or say inappropriate things just to make her smile. I think she does the same for me.
My New Year’s resolution is to take better care of my health and to encourage my loved ones to do the same. Without our good health we have nothing.
Below is what a few others are resolving in 2010!
I resolve to live in and enjoy the moment while still focusing on the to-do lists; to create and enjoy the laughter of friends; to have multiple creative outlets; to seize the day as much as humanly possible.
—Blair Cohn, Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association
To stay healthy, see people I love, and to find something new and fulfilling to do as an avocation.
—Jane Fallon, Planning Commissioner, City of Signal Hill
My New Year’s resolution is to “Reach for the stars— stop playing small and hiding my light under a bush; to play full out and go for my dreams!” —Daaiyah Jordan, St. Mary’s Hospital
To go ahead and progress beyond my grief— to keep busy and help other people.
—Deborah Turner, author of “How Wheely Willy Got His Wheels”
