My New Year's Wish

I desperately wanted to write something inspiring for my New Year’s post. I wanted to compose something profound that would make people stop what they are doing and declare me brilliant and insightful. (Okay, truth be told, I just wanted people to read it.)

So I gathered piles of magazines and read through every “New Year, New You” article I could find (and there were many of them). I scoured the Internet and Facebook, reading countless blogs and friends’ posts, looking for inspiration.

Unfortunately, the more I read, the more anxious I became. Everyone had something to say about the perfect way to start 2012.

I realized that, in the New Year, I needed to:

-Loose weight (and there are no shortage of diets available);
-Wear orange (or tangerine tango, to be more precise, the color of the year);
-Shop small businesses (or I would personally be responsible for the downfall of the local economy);
-Exercise (this could include everything from joining a gym to yoga - or naked yoga, for those adventurous types - to pole dancing);
-Get organized (and not just my closets, but my thoughts, my life and my computer files need de-cluttering as well, I’m told).

I was encouraged to set a reading goal (finally, an idea I can get excited about), cleanse my system with a New Year’s Detox (spoiler alert: it involves avocados) and pick a word/phrase that I wanted to describe the year ahead for me. (“Who knows; who cares; why bother?” came to mind, but that may be a bit morose.)

One woman posted her 2012 resolutions on a Facebook site for all to see:

“Make my own almond milk; cook all my own beans; recycle more; add 5 corporate yoga teaching gigs and 5 more private yoga clients to my weekly calendar and book an international vacation this year.”

Really? That makes my initial resolution (wear matching socks) seem almost foolish, doesn’t it?

The problem with all these resolutions is that by the time we are finished with them, while we may be a better person, we will be too stressed out and exhausted to enjoy our new lives.

So, while it may not be profound or awe-inspiring, I’ve come up with one resolution for myself, and one wish for everyone: peace.

Peace, according to The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “a state of calm and quiet.” That is my word of the year, my New Year’s resolution, and my motto. (It is also my tattoo, but that’s a different blog.)

I wish everyone peace in every area of their lives, for 2012 and the years to come. It may not be as impressive as other resolutions out there, but it works for me, and I hope for you as well. (Besides, how does one go about making almond milk anyway?)