New Year, New Resolutions

It’s the last day of 2014.  Let’s let that sink in for a moment.

And now just one more moment…

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, and I’m about to say it right now…but I do not know where this year has gone!  It has flown by so fast.  As I reflect it really makes me think about how precious our time is and how we use it.  This is something I took into consideration while I was coming up with my 2015 Resolution.

When it comes to New Year’s Resolutions I’ve only started being serious about them in the past few years.  I’ve given up soda for an entire year, ran in multiple half marathons, along with a variety of other goals and plans.  I know that some say, “you shouldn’t wait until Jan. 1 to change your life”, and I party agree with them {heck, I’ve even said it before}.  However, I also don’t think that it’s a “poor” excuse of a time to start something in your life either.  We’ve all got our proverbial “clean slate” starting tomorrow, and to me that’s pretty exciting.  I know, I’m full of contradictions.

I went back to my first post ever written about New Year Res’s when I was still writing for the Marshall Rec Blog, I basically admitted to the same thing.  Now that I have had time to reflect, I still stand behind what I say.  When you’re focusing your resolutions on the improvement of yourself and those around you, I believe you have a better chance at succeeding.  Side note:  When I say “the improvement of yourself”, I don’t mean you look at the scale after Christmas dinner with cartoon-like eyes and say “OMG I need to lose 10 pounds”.  I am more referring to a personal goal.  Of course, I always support losing weight {if it’s needed} and living a healthy lifestyle, but if you’re losing weight because it’s January 1st, rather than because you yourself have a burning desire to lose it with a mapped out plan, there’s a greater chance to fall off of the wagon.  That’s why my half-marathon resolutions worked for me.  They were goals, were I had a strict plan to succeed, rather than, “I going to keep running until I can run 13.1 miles”.

This year, I only have one resolution, and it’s not fitness related at all.  This year’s resolution is….

I’ve decided this for two reasons.  Growing up, I was always volunteering- with teams, my family, my youth group, and I loved it.  As I got older, I got busier, went to college, and it somehow just fell to the wayside {horrible excuse I know, but it’s true…and probably true for others as well}.  I’ve been sucked into my day to day routine to the point where I feel like I’m not really contributing to much anymore, and I know there are plenty of things around my community that need volunteers.  I want to help in any way that I can.  I’ve also decided to do this because I love Charlotte, {and also, kind of stuck in my routine/places I go, etc}.  I’m one of those people that if I’m in a place, I want to know everything about it, I’m curious like that.  I feel like this will be a great opportunity to learn even more about my community.  I will also get to meet a wide variety of people {another thing I love}.

I registered with a local volunteering organization, Hands On Charlotte, and I have my orientation on the 10th.  After that, I can volunteer my heart out!  To make sure that I keep my resolution, I’ve decided to give myself one, unbreakable rule.  No matter what happens, I need to volunteer at least once a month.  I understand how quickly time can get away from us, and some months might be busier than others.  Regardless, volunteer once a month.  Of course I can participate multiple times in a month if I have the time, but I think that’s a good rule of thumb.

Also need to give my brother, Ryan, a shoutout…he’s the one that introduced me to this website.  He’s actually already a volunteer for them {such a good kid}.  Anyone is more than welcome to steal my idea in their own community, the more volunteer’s the merrier!

Now let’s go make the last day of 2014 a great one.  Very exciting things are on the horizon, and I can’t wait to continue this crazy journey called life!

Have a safe and happy NYE, everyone!  What are your resolutions?

Tags: resolutions, nye, new years, volunteering, charlotte, hands on charlotte

Powered by Qumana