Resolutions

It's New Year's Eve and everyone is making party plans or figuring out what their New Year's resolution is going to be. The truth is, you don't really need a New Year to make a new start or even a resolution. A fresh start can happen any time or any day you want it to. The resolution isn't agreeing with yourself to work out more, or quit smoking. It's to stop saying you will and just do it. It's not picking a new year or "next monday" it's now. Hell, it was yesterday.

Did you know it can take about 66 days to form a habit? So when your making those resolutions think about whether you can be consistent enough for it to stick.

So don't just make resolutions you know you won't keep. Make a plan to make a change. Don't even do that, just start, right this minute. Whether it's a change for your own life, or a plan to help someone change their life. Every ounce of motivation helps and sometimes all someone needs is a little push in the right direction and a lot of support.

My plan is to motivate and encourage not just friends and family, but people I don't even know yet.

Happy New Year!!!!

Figuring out the "Why"

After what happened yesterday on the Virginia Tech campus it really started to make me think about people and why they make the choices they do. It's fair to say everyone has been in situations where something was done to you and you couldn't figure out why that person would want to hurt you. Maybe you were the one doing the hurting.

Either way, I believe everyone is capable of doing things they wouldn't even dream of doing. Good and bad. There are so many environmental and emotional factors that drive certain kinds of people to do certain things. It's easy to place blame and point a finger but who are you to really judge anybody. Is your soul flawless of error and unkindness? I doubt it.

I have made so many horrible choices in my life, but do those things define who I truly am and make me a bad person. Of course not. There is a difference between being a truly bad person and just making bad decisions.

Being able to learn from those mistakes and move on is equally important. Taking a deeper look can sometimes clarify unanswered questions. There is a victim and a suspect, right? How do you know if at one point that suspect wasn't a victim themselves? People are a product of their environment and don't always have the knowledge or resources to make the right choices or become better people.

If you don't give people a second chance, or forgiveness, who will? If we aren't trying to change lives and inspire people to be better, what will our future look like?

Everyone feels bad for the family of the victim, but what about the family and mother and father of the suspect? I bet they are going through a similar pain. A disgusted kind of sorrow that their child is capable of something so terrible.

Everyone has a breaking point, and anyone is capable of being pushed over the edge. Some have more tolerance and control over their emotions than other's. Any series of events can lead to another series of events and so on. Things can always take a turn for the worse, even when we don't expect it.

Have faith and be supportive of everyone. You never know if your positive influence or choice to intervene could be potentially saving a life.

**Inspire someone, anyone, to be better**

Doing Good

Maybe it's that I'm getting older (not that 26 is old) or I'm realizing how fast life passes by and how quickly things can change. When I was younger, I foolishly believed things in my life would remain constant, never shifting far from my comfort zone.But life is always throwing me curve balls and changing at the blink of an eye.

I've had this unbelievable urge to pay it forward in a sense and go out of my way to do someone a favor or make a complete stranger smile. My husband and I were driving to the store yesterday and right in the middle of the road was a plastic bag and it's contents spilled all over the street. Not just papers or trash, but seven beer cans. I made Greg pull over so I could pick everything up and throw it away at the gas station down the road. A few of the cans donned some left over stale beer at the bottom and the smell was horrible. Touching it with my bare hands was even worse but in that moment, making sure someone didn't run over it and get a flat tire seemed more important to me.

My husband, by the way, thought I was crazy for walking in the middle of the road and picking up someone's trash. I read a story once, about a man walking along the beach, retrieving starfish that had washed up on shore and throwing them back into the ocean. When told he couldn't possible save enough to make a difference he picked up another starfish, threw it into the water and said, "I made a difference to that one."No matter how small a favor or kind act may seem, it's making a difference to someone.

You never know how big of a difference you're truly making. Whether it's as big as buying groceries for a family in need, befriending someone who needs you, or simply telling someone they look nice; it all makes a difference.

Here is my proposal for the weekend:
Do something completely selfless for someone random like . . .

1. If your getting coffee and there is someone waiting behind you, pay for their coffee too. :)

2. Baby-sit a friends kids so they can have some free time, and don't put a time limit on it

3. Have a friend that has been wanting something specific for a while. Buy it for them, wrap it, and leave it on their car or front porch without saying who it's from.

4. Volunteer at a nursing home, library, hospital, or animal shelter.

5. Make yourself available to friends, family, or anyone who may not ask or admit that they need help Offer, mean it, and follow through.

The above suggestions are just suggestions but sometimes the greatest gift is giving to others.