A New Year's Resolution We All Can Keep

2012 was supposed to be the year that the world ended, but luckily it turned out to be just another year.

New Year’s Eve celebrations are filled with musings of the past year, hope for a better one and, of course, plenty of of resolutions that will last about a fortnight. Everybody is looking forward to being handed the New Year Eraser to clean that slate and wipe away a year’s worth of mistakes.

Hold up. Put that eraser down. You heard me, stop what you are doing and read on.

There is no such thing as a clean slate in this complicated thing we call life. A numerical change on the calendar cannot negate the ups and downs of any given year. It is out there warts and all.

Its tempting to cling to the good and toss the bad out when it comes to 2012, but I believe that both need to be embraced to have a better new year. Our daily stumbles and fumbles build character and help make us who we are. Our lives are not just a product of our successes, but also the many failures that lie underneath them.

Remember that fight with a good friend over nothing important, or the task you put off that ended up biting you in the behind? Good. These memories will come in handy in 2013 and onward.

New Year’s Eve is no time to forget. It should be a time for honest reflection of what went right over the course of the year, and what went nooooooot-so-right. Many wise individuals in history, including the ever-knowledgeable Kelly Clarkson, have said that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

We are all slowly building up on top of a foundation that holds our lives together.

A carpenter building a house cannot ignore a mistake or else his construction soon crumble. The structures we build around us need just as much tender loving care as we build higher and higher. Each level needs to be looked at honestly, just like each year needs to be seen for what it is.

Go into the new year learning from your mistakes and building on what you did right. A resolution is nothing without an experience, good or bad, to transform it into an achievement. Every year is an opportunity to climb higher, and you bet your bottom dollar I want to see all of you reach new heights.

That is a resolution anyone can accomplish.