Goals not Resolutions

So here it is... the year 2011... and with the new year always comes a host of resolutions.  Things that I say I'm going to change, but never really do.  This year is different.  This year things have to change.  Whether I like it or not, my life has to change and it is up to me to determine whether or not it changes for the better.

2010 was not what you would call a banner year for me.  Lay offs, financial problems, day care issues, health problems, an impending divorce, and my father dying unexpectedly pretty much sums up my year.  I'm entering 2011 with my life upside down, something occurred to me today... this may be a blessing in disguise.  This year represents what could be a completely fresh start for me.  I can make choices this year that will determine the path I will take for the rest of my life.  That being the case I've decided that in place of the usual meaningless resolutions I will set goals for myself.  Goals that mark a set of personal challenges for me to overcome.

I've publicly declared them on my Facebook page and on Twitter... Here they are again:

1. I will vastly improve my health this year.
2. I will be making at least 75% of my income from self employment by year's end. I'm done making other people rich.
3. I will read 1 each of the following types of books every month: fiction, non-fiction, and how-to/self help.
4. I will dig my guitars out of the basement and play them again.
5. I will NOT allow depression and fear to keep me at home when I'm invited out by my friends and family.
6. I will make time to do something creative EVERY DAY.
7. I will make an effort to travel to see out of town friends and family this year.
8. I will spend more time praising those around me and less time judging them... especially my kids.
9. I will take at least 4 classes of some kind this year. At least one of them will be an art class.
10. I will make time to go to the movies at least once a month... even if I have to go by myself.

So there they are.  These are the goals that I have set out for myself for the coming year.  If I am able to accomplish these goals I will have done the impossible and reinvented myself and used this forced fresh start to make a positive change in my life and hopefully in the lives of those around me.