2010 Goals and Resolutions

“You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don’t think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully.”  – Anthony Robbins

This quote sums up a lot about how I’ve been feeling lately.  I’ve been cleaning house, literally and figuratively.  I’ve taken several carloads of stuff to Savers over the past few weeks, and I’m not done yet.  I don’t want anything in the house that doesn’t serve a specific purpose at this point in my life.  I’m not holding on to old patterns anymore.  The same can be said for my mental state.  I’m cleaning house on old habits and mindsets that don’t serve me anymore.  I’m done telling myself stories about who I am and why my life is the way it is.  Another great quote from Mr. Robbins sums up my feelings exactly:  “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” – Anthony Robbins.  Well, I have what I’ve always had because I’m still doing the same things.  Isn’t that the exact definition of insanity; to do the same thing over and over and expect different results?

I am here to officially say that I am done being insane.  I will not continue to do the same things over and over and expect something different.  I will face my fears and start looking at other options.

My Goals for 2010:

1. 1000 miles
2. Race for Charity
3. Get a job
4. Keep writing
5. Saving for Tibet/Nepal/Peru trip
6. Live large and CONSCIOUSLY.  Evaluate where I expend energy and decide if it helps create positive change, or if I’m just spinning my wheels.

Running:  I’d like to run more days than I don’t, which would probably get me to 1000 miles in 2010.  When I run, I have more energy and patience (both really good things).  I think this one will be pretty easy to accomplish.  I log my workouts on DailyMile,  so you can keep track of me and tell me to get a move on!

 Racing:  I want to race for charity.  It seems to me that I already run for myself (check out My Own Story on why I run) and I could easily pick a race where there’s a give-back to the community.

 Work/Writing:  I’ll be working this year (well, being paid to work, I should say, as I work every single day of my life) and will continue with my writing. I’m registered for a four week intensive workshop that starts January 5^th to motivate me to learn more, open my mind, and branch out.  I’m ready to drop everything that takes up precious time and energy that doesn’t feed my soul, to create room for the personal growth I am ready to experience.

Travel:  I want to do one of those hugely expensive “volunteer vacation” family trips to Tibet, Nepal, or Peru where you build a school or lay pipe for clean water.  I want to use the strength of my body and the breath in my lungs to create positive change in this world.  My kids are finally old enough to go, and it’s time we got down to business and started seeing the world through lens’ that aren’t as sanitized and privileged as we are here in Colorado.  This will take some serious savings on my part, as I don’t have this kind of money floating around.

Community give-backs:  This is where it’s going to get more complicated.  For 2010, I want my energies to go toward making a difference in the world.  Yes, this is pretty broad.  Let me see if I can explain.

One of my favorite books is “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson.  I just started reading his second book, “Stones into Schools:  Promoting peace with books, not bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan”.  This message resonates with me on so many levels.  Girls are being educated in villages where they have traditionally been denied any education.  Local cultures are creating room for women to be educated, marry later, have access to health care, and have their say in local governance.  I won’t go on too much about this, other than say that Greg is doing incredibly important work and changing lives throughout a very broad region.  He’s creating peace by educating girls.  He’s an advisor to the U.S. military on the Central Asian region.  His life has meaning and reason. 

I need to find the place where my energies and passions touch lives in such a positive way as well.  At the end of my life I want to be able to say that I lived vibrantly, authentically, and passionately.  I want to help others live better lives.  Does this mean putting my energies toward building schools, helping kids learn to read, reaching out to the Homeless and serving others?  Maybe.  I’m searching right now for the place where I fit into the grand scheme of life.  I want to live so consciously and with such passion that Speed would be a downer.  I want to stop telling myself stories about why I can’t live the life that I want.

These are my goals for 2010.  Some of them will be easily measured, and others will be more fluid.  However 2010 turns out, I am ready.