Thirty-six: A new chapter

In about 10 days, I'll be turning 36. Not all that remarkable, as people have done this and will continue to do this with little effort. All I will have to do, technically, is wake up. And God willing, I will.

My hope for the next year is that it be a year of help. I declared 2008 a year of hope -- and hoping and being hopeful can be hard work. Cynicism is a protective shell we often build around ourselves to guard against the occasional pain and disappointments that hoping can you vulnerable to.

So, having managed to chip away at the collective and my personal cynical coating, I'd like to call for 2009 to be the year of help. Help in a global and local sense.

It just seems like a natural human progression. I'd like to be help and be helped. To do that, I will volunteer more, change my attitude and approach. Essentially, do good and be better. (Being good might be too much to aim for in just one year.) What does that translate into? Three significant commitments per month, resulting in 36 new accomplishments by the end of the year. This will equal the years I will have walked the Earth.

Ambitious? Ridiculously so.

The first three (starting locally and small):

1. Start and finish a book
2. Get out and active at least three times a week
3. Eat better (5-6 times a day of a good mix of food types)

My ultimate goal for 2009 is to be more of a help than a harm to my world and the people I encounter. Call this a resolution, but I need to build up the resolve to make change in my life and in others'.

Anyway, happy new year. Much hope and help to you in 2009.