my 2007 motto
so, in what has come to be tradition, its time to come up with a motto for the year. i feel like mottos are a much better solution to the new year expectation than resolutions are. resolutions put pressure on you to change your life for the better, and they're usually ultimate elitist self demands, with no room for growth. you swear you'll lose 50 lbs, you'll make a nest egg for yourself, you'll get straight A's, you wont get your heart broken. but life happens! someone may be careless with your feelings, and then what? you break up, you dont go to class so you dont get A's, and you spend your paycheck on chocolate. there go the resolutions, happy new year, you failed again. mottos are much more forgiving.
the other thing about motto's is that they reflect what's happened in the year that's passed, and what positive changes you're looking for as a result. i know that 2005 was predominately (although with a few exceptions) the shittiest year ever for a bunch of reasons, and for people like cara, shristhi, and myself especially, we didn't deserve a lot of the crap we had to deal with. so the motto for the next year, 2006, was "turning tricks and getting our kicks in 2006" (clearly the rhyme factor is important).
and i think we did a good job with putting the motto to work in our lives. i know that personally, i established myself more strongly at mercy, i've been in my relationship with john all year, i've grown up a lot and really enjoyed myself for most of the year. by setting up a motto telling myself to "get my kicks", i went out and got what i needed for myself and loved the year. so the challenge then, for 2007, is to come up with a little saying to appropriately sum up the wishes for the next 364 days.
at first i thought the motto for this new year should be something like "we'll never go to heaven after what we did in '07" but then i realized that didn't really fit the plan for this year. true, there will be acts of insanity and silliness, but at the same time, this year is one of graduations, of self-actualization and maturity. of fear, of the unknown, of "two roads diverged in a yellow wood". 2007 is a year where we will have to examine the people we have become, and take the status we've achieved for ourselves and do something with it. this is the time in our lives where plans are made and our new realities become established.
so after much deliberation, i think i've come up with a motto. (i would say it has to rhyme, but the only words i can think of that work are "heaven" and "eleven". so we'll go with the trend of '05 ["embrace it"] and keep it simple.) 2007 is a year where, first and foremost, we will be challenged. most of my friends are graduating and changing paths. i am going to enter the 5 year masters program at mercy. our lives are becoming our own-- we are moving out, establishing ourselves at work, dealing with changing family structures, falling in and out of love. what word(s) would we possibly offer ourselves as we sit in shock at the reality of our lives?
i offer you my 2007 motto: believe in it.
non-apologetic and realistic, it offers us stability in shifting times. whether you fall in love or out of love; get accepted or rejected by your ideal program; move back in at home or move out on your own; find a job or not. believe in yourself and the path that lies ahead-- have faith that things work out as they should. by not merely accepting but believing in the trials and the triumphs of what will be a major year of change in our lives, we cannot fail.
i sat on the couch watching the countdown of the last seconds of 2006 in disbelief- shocked that it could already be 2007. but i believe in it! this year will be wonderful-- if we believe in ourselves and our abilities.
2007: believe in it.
the other thing about motto's is that they reflect what's happened in the year that's passed, and what positive changes you're looking for as a result. i know that 2005 was predominately (although with a few exceptions) the shittiest year ever for a bunch of reasons, and for people like cara, shristhi, and myself especially, we didn't deserve a lot of the crap we had to deal with. so the motto for the next year, 2006, was "turning tricks and getting our kicks in 2006" (clearly the rhyme factor is important).
and i think we did a good job with putting the motto to work in our lives. i know that personally, i established myself more strongly at mercy, i've been in my relationship with john all year, i've grown up a lot and really enjoyed myself for most of the year. by setting up a motto telling myself to "get my kicks", i went out and got what i needed for myself and loved the year. so the challenge then, for 2007, is to come up with a little saying to appropriately sum up the wishes for the next 364 days.
at first i thought the motto for this new year should be something like "we'll never go to heaven after what we did in '07" but then i realized that didn't really fit the plan for this year. true, there will be acts of insanity and silliness, but at the same time, this year is one of graduations, of self-actualization and maturity. of fear, of the unknown, of "two roads diverged in a yellow wood". 2007 is a year where we will have to examine the people we have become, and take the status we've achieved for ourselves and do something with it. this is the time in our lives where plans are made and our new realities become established.
so after much deliberation, i think i've come up with a motto. (i would say it has to rhyme, but the only words i can think of that work are "heaven" and "eleven". so we'll go with the trend of '05 ["embrace it"] and keep it simple.) 2007 is a year where, first and foremost, we will be challenged. most of my friends are graduating and changing paths. i am going to enter the 5 year masters program at mercy. our lives are becoming our own-- we are moving out, establishing ourselves at work, dealing with changing family structures, falling in and out of love. what word(s) would we possibly offer ourselves as we sit in shock at the reality of our lives?
i offer you my 2007 motto: believe in it.
non-apologetic and realistic, it offers us stability in shifting times. whether you fall in love or out of love; get accepted or rejected by your ideal program; move back in at home or move out on your own; find a job or not. believe in yourself and the path that lies ahead-- have faith that things work out as they should. by not merely accepting but believing in the trials and the triumphs of what will be a major year of change in our lives, we cannot fail.
i sat on the couch watching the countdown of the last seconds of 2006 in disbelief- shocked that it could already be 2007. but i believe in it! this year will be wonderful-- if we believe in ourselves and our abilities.
2007: believe in it.