What if the world truly ended on 12-21-2012 and we’re all here in the afterlife? If everyone on the planet died at the same time, how would any of us know? I smell Matrix IV. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
At the end of every year, I review my resolutions failed and accomplished.
- Eat one salad – Check.
- Obtain body of a Greek God – Hedonism Botted.
- Write more – Done?
Setting goals is important because it forces us to acknowledge the distance between where we are and where we would like to be. The purpose is to never be complacent. There is always a reason and a way for us to become better people. The path is difficult. But, pain is growth. I believe we all fail forward.
I’m a failure because I honestly do not subscribe to any importance in hitting goals. When I miss my target, I take loss in stride. No one can discredit effort. Success is merely accuracy. As long as I fail close, I can appreciate my momentum and later recalibrate wiser.
We should move by our principles. Goals only help clear a direction. Standing at the pinnacle of set ambitions means little if the journey compromised our soul. I would be miserable if I lied, cheated, and stole my way into Kate Beckinsale’s knickers.
My guiding principle is to ALWAYS face fear. I hate stagnation. Introverts react to fear with paralysis and momentary recollection. Extroverts excite from fears and press forward, albeit often too impulsively. A wise man walks through the middle ground. Like a triangle, we reach the top by plotting our foundation and then following both sides up to the center.
As a child, I had a great fear of speaking to strangers. I now force myself to initiate introductions. I am deathly afraid of losing money. Last year, I made ambitious investments that doesn’t wear makeup, nor order dessert despite being stuffed to the rafters. I am scared of never matching my family’s prestigious careers as lawyers and doctors. So, I have learned to puff myself into a bigger person by ridiculing my sisters. I am much better at peeing standing up.
Life takes us many places, but we choose the roads. A friend of mine failed through various boarding schools and juvenile detention centers. He chose a new road and has now established himself as a reputable professional. He failed forward. I admire him.
I am a writer. No one values my words with money, but I am still a writer. The road I have chosen is the most poverty stricken and least appreciated. Words on a page will never pause a man’s steps and ready an applause, but reading transforms the mind’s eye. Writers shape identity.
For 2013, I have cleared the hedges and set a single resolution. I look forward to failing. See y’all at center stage. =)
– John
finally! welcome back.