New Year's resolution or life resolution?

It's that time of year again – a time when millions of people make their New Year's resolutions, keep them for three weeks, and then forget all about them. Personally, I never make New Year's resolutions. I never have. Even as a kid I always thought, “shouldn't we be making resolutions every single day?” New Year's Day is just another day like any other, why bother picking THAT day to make a promise to one's self which one doesn't really intend to keep?

Well, this year I actually did make a New Year's resolution -- sort of. Actually I made it a few days before Christmas. Right in the midst of all of the Holiday hustle and bustle I decided that I wanted to “make more time” for the important things in life, namely being with and doing things for people I care about and love. Perhaps this Holiday season made me overly emotional. Or perhaps I just wised up and realized that things may not always be as they are. Or perhaps I concluded that doing something for someone, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, may help make a difference in their life, as well as mine.

Unfortunately we're sometimes too poor, too busy, and even too ill to do things for and with others. All are valid excuses, but it is far too easy to turn a valid excuse into a reason to procrastinate. We tell ourselves that there's always next week, next year, or the worst excuse of all, “I have time.” But do we? Do you? Do I? To be honest, I don't know and neither do you! Yes, most of us know that “time is short” and that we have but one life to live, but knowing a bunch of facts in our head is totally different than actually putting that knowledge into practice.

Due to a chronic illness I've suffered with for the last four years, I haven't always had the physical stamina to do certain things at certain hours of the day –and I fear I may have used that as an excuse to not be there for people. Sometimes it was a valid excuse, but was it always? I do not know. Fortunately, my health is improving and my stamina is returning. Will it stay? Who knows. Will it be there each and every day? Probably not, but what was not possible two years ago is becoming possible now. And when it is possible I'm going to take that opportunity and do my best to be with and do for those I care about and love.

Now, I may not be able to do “big” things for people. I may not be able to spend days and weeks sacrificing my time and loose change for everyone I know. That of course is not the point. One need not cook a huge meal, spend loads of money, quite one's job or ruin one's health to do something for your loved ones. It's not about the “big” things because it only takes one small thing to make a difference in someone's life. We must not fall into the trap of deciding that since we're incapable of doing something “big” for someone, that we won't do anything at all. That's a cop-out to give ourselves permission to do nothing.

People always say that, “if I had a million dollars I'd help them out!” but the people who are worth doing for in the first place don't want your money – they want you! They want you to be with them, to spend time with them, and to be there for them in their good and bad moments. Of course I would love to be able to do the “big” things for people – and if I had a million dollars I'd do just that. Unfortunately life is too short to wait until you have that million dollars because chances are you'll never have it.

Don't wait until you have that spare million. Don't wait until next Christmas to be nice to your neighbor. Don't wait until someone's birthday to greet them again. And don't wait until you (or they) are too old to appreciate the time which you spend with them. Do not torture yourself – emotionally, financially or physically – but at the same time don't wait for a better day to be with and do something for someone, for there is no better time than the here and now.

This is my life resolution – may it be one which I practice till the end of my days.