Fresh Starts

I find New Year's to be such an interesting holiday. While some might celebrate with chic city style, others know that they will be wearing the party hats and grabbing those obnoxious noise blowers to bring in the New Year. Wherever you are or whomever you are with the occasion is an event. Even more entertaining to me is our fascination with the ball of crystal wonder that twinkles in the vacant dark sky. The thousands of eco-friendly light bulbs that illuminate the ball's descent as the clock strikes midnight not only marks the beginning of a new year, but also the fading flicker of the old year. The sound of the pop and sizzle from the freshly opened champagne bottle is melodious to my ears. The gentle lull of the saxophone as it plays the song "Auld Lang Syne" drowns out all possibilities of fear and apprehension that the approaching year might bring. Yet, New Year's to me is so much more than a Parade of Roses or a kiss at midnight; it marks the evaluation of a year and the fresh start that is much needed after trudging through 12 months of the daily grind.

I would be lying if I said there weren't things I didn't liked about the New Year. For starters the constipation that the gym experiences do to girls trying to tame their tummies for the quickly approaching Spring Break season, is one of the most annoying and irritating events that tests my patience daily. But, for the most part I feel rejuvenated from the feeding and family frenzy of the holidays and ready to conquer and accomplish more than I did the previous year. You see my yearly ritual for the New Year began in the 8 th grade, where I wrote all of my goals for the New Year down and posted them in my closet. Every day I would look at them and each turning of the calendar year I would bring the scraps of construction paper down from my closet ceiling and post new ones, and the tradition has stuck with me ever since. Being forced to look at your goals in the face everyday is a wonderful and constant reminder of what we want to accomplish in this year and in this life. I am floored at how fast 25 years can escape me and still I have so many goals and aspirations that I am hoping to achieve. Yet, I see how facile it can be to put dreams and hopes on the back burner and say ...Ohhh next year or next week, but in reality the New Year is a reminder that there is no better time than the present.

The present........yes, the time is now. You see we have all been given the gift to celebrate another year and to watch the infamous ball drop one more time. Yet, I ask you how are you going to make this year different than the last? While I tend to be the Type A highly goal-oriented person, I realize that not everyone is programmed like me. Therefore, maybe pick one goal you want to accomplish or one habit you want to break. I promise you the satisfaction of accomplishment is one of the sweetest boosts of confidence you will ever experience. Thus, this year I encourage you to leave all your skeletons in the closet and to leap out of bed on the 1st of January with a spring in your step and a smile in heart knowing that this year belongs to you.