Resolutions

What is it about a new year that makes people yearn for change, to turn over a new leaf?  It's just a bigger number on the calendar, after all, another 365-day cycle that's now in the past.  I'm not sure if it's just western culture that's so drawn to the concept of starting fresh, with a blank slate, but I think that has a lot to do with the appeal of a new year.  Erase the past and start fresh.  Lose those pesky pounds, give more to charity, floss--become a new and improved you.  It's a lovely idea, and I must say, unwrapping my blank 2012 day-planner was a beautiful experience.  But as I've grown up I've become less inclined to make myself big promises, less inclined to "start fresh."  The past is there to stay, after all; without it we would just make the same mistakes over and over and over again.  I am who I am and that's not going to change.  All I can hope to do is to continue to learn and grow and become a better, wiser version of myself.  Because I'll be the first to admit that I have a long way to go.

One of the beauties of Peace Corps has been the experience of watching myself change.  And I can't say whether I can attribute this change fully to the "PC experience," or if PC also happened to occur at a pivotal point in my adulthood when I'm really starting to see my life unfold, see myself as a "grown-up" (I'm not a grown-up yet. Like I said before, I have many things to learn. Like how to do my taxes, for example.)  But in these past 21 months of this Montaña Rusa Guatemalteca I've learned a lot about myself.  I've spent more time with myself than ever before.  And in so doing, I actually saw myself change. 

I'm not going to share all my New Years Resolutions because, well, they're personal. 

• Remember that it's okay to slow down, and live accordingly.
• Learn to play the Ukelele.
• Learn French.
• Keep making time to read books.
• Be happy with what I already have. Also, if it's not broken, don't fix it.  
• Focus.
• Continue to surround myself with positive people who make me happy and who share my passions.