The New Year is not a "Do Over"... It is a "Do Differently"

Hello, everyone!

Now that the craziness of the holidays is over, and it looks like our infamous Chicago Winter has probably arrived, I want to talk a little bit about the new year and the past year.

This past year was a year of many changes for everyone. As much as we'd like to say we are out of the recession, try telling that to the people who still cannot find jobs. I'm not just talking about professionals but students as well. Yes, we worry about our friends finding jobs in the professional world, but we need to look out for our young people as well.

When jobs are scarce and people get desperate, they tend to take whatever they can get. Sometimes (a lot of times) that means jobs that would typically be filled by our students/young people. Can't tell you how many times I have seen someone with a Master's degree working at JC Penney or at a restaurant.

In terms of a domestic/international big picture, a whole lot has changed for many people. Governments overthrown...wars ended...wars begun...world leaders killed...world leaders who died. There has been significant progress made in women's rights (not nearly enough in my opinion). There has been huge progress toward ending child slavery and enacting stricter child labor laws, not only here in the U.S. but around the world as well. We have left Iraq. It won't be long before we are out of Afghanistan.

Specifically here in the U.S. we have an election coming up, and, boy, do we have some interesting Republican candidates. As a Democrat, I guess I'm not supposed to "like" any of them...and, honestly, I don't. I will not go into the political issues on this blog, but suffice it to say, that as a woman I find MANY of these candidates dangerous on several issues, one of them being women's rights. (Even Michele Bachmann.)

President Obama is doing the campaigning "thing" — not sure how much work is going to get done while he does that. Congress cannot seem to get along for one millisecond. Corruption is rampant in D.C.: We all wait for the next scandal to hit.

As far as our state/city goes, the taxpayers will be paying for our former corrupt governor's trial for many years to come. We have an educational board here in Darien that thrives on secrecy and is definitely NOT transparent. We have the issue of the maintenance of our city vehicles being "sourced out" to Downers Grove (Nancy shakes her head at the stupidity of that). Have all of our schools "passed" the No Child Left Behind act? IS this "act" still valid? What's going on with our special needs programs in our high schools/middle-schools? Many, many issues here.

With all that being said, with all the loss and issues from 2011, we managed to make it to 2012. As far as the United States of America is concerned, I still think this is a pretty darn good country to live in. We have freedoms here that NO OTHER country has. You know what they are. We are free to speak. We are free to practice (or not practice) any religion we choose. We are free to travel within our country at any time we want, when we want. We are free to choose what we purchase and how. (Please purchase products made in the U.S.) We are free to READ any book we choose at any time we choose...and if cannot afford it we can go to a library and read it for FREE. LOTS of freedoms here.

That's why it frustrates me when anyone complains about how much "better" living in another country would be. Or how "bad" it is living here. My thought?? If you don't like living here, you are FREE to leave. You see, we give you the freedom in the United States of America to leave as well. 

Now you may be asking, what the heck is her POINT??? My point is that we cannot "do over" the past. We can learn from it and try our best to let it remind us of what did work and what did not work. Below I have a few suggestion on how to "Do Differently" this year. I borrowed some from www.wholeliving.com. (A great site, by the way. And a even better magazine).

1. Nourish your mind as carefully as you nourish your body. Chicago winters are tough. We will all be spending a lot of time inside. Pick up a new subject and learn all you can learn about it for a week. Yale and quite a few other colleges/universities have FREE online courses. Check them out. They may interest you.
2. Whole Living suggests that you'll feel prosperous if you believe there are more than enough things to go around. I think that speaks for itself.
3. Go for a 10 minute walk. Bundle up!!! See what your neighborhood looks like in the winter. And remember to look at the sky!!!
4. Don't be critical out of meanness, but rather criticize constructively with good intentions, Whole Living says. This is very important. I truly believe people do not realize when their words are harsh and critical. Think about how you come across to people. How do you treat the McDonald's drive-through person? What is your tone when you are sending back something in a restaurant because it is not cooked properly? When someone says "Can I help you?" somewhere do you actually acknowledge them or ignore them? Think about what comes out of your mouth and how you behave. Take an honest look at yourself. Then make adjustments accordingly. You know what's right and what's wrong. Takes steps to fix it.
5. Pay attention when you are driving. I know, this sounds trite and you are tired of hearing it. But I cannot even tell you how many times I see a big SUV "drifting" into my lane because the driver is distracted by a phone conversation, texting or whatever is going on inside the vehicle. USE YOUR SIGNAL LIGHT. A whole lot of traffic accidents would not happen if the signal was used more often. (But then again how can you drive, text, talk on the phone AND have one hand free to flick the signal light.) Do better on the roadways, folks. PLEASE.
6. Don't judge yourself too harshly. We all have so many things going on. We all want to accomplish many, many things every day. And we all DO accomplish a LOT of things. However, don't beat yourself up if you don't finish your "to do" list. If you don't finish something, do it the next day. As long as it doesn't kill someone, you can fix it. (Very hard to raise someone from the dead...unless, of course, you had the cast of "True Blood" turn them into a vampire, but that's another story.) Bottomline, give yourself a break once in a while. I like to take a few hours and watch either N.C.I.S. (Love Denozo and Gibbs) or Star Trek: The Next Generation. (Watching a masterful performance by Patrick Stewart ALWAYS makes me feels better!)

We all have the ability to "do better." Let's all make an effort to that end.

Next blog I will get back to my "healthy living" speak. :) The Master Gardener and I are attempting some indoor growing this winter. Just before Christmas we finished our last tomato from our plants this summer! Not too bad!!!! The Master Gardener and I have elected to try Robert Ferguson's Food Lovers for Life program We tried it last year, but between all of my travelling and my Dad's sickness we never really committed to making it work. (Of course, MG [Master Gardener] lost 15 pounds and I lost seven ... GEEZ!) I will keep you updated on that as well.

Thanks for reading, everyone! See you next time! Until then, eat well, be healthy and stay happy!!!!!