Every year I make New Year’s Resolutions and every year I break them. But I keep making them and you may wonder, why? To err is human. I know I will not follow through with all my resolutions, but at the same time, it is a form of guidance for my daily life. Although I may not attain all my goals by December 31st every year, in the midst of my struggle, mistakes, flaws and all, I keep trying. And to me, that is worth it.
I like to think of myself as a neo- perfectionist. People tend to think of a “perfectionist” as someone who always wants everything to be exactly in order and just right. That is why I added “neo” to the term. I do not need to get straight A’s at the end of every semester and wear a crease-free shirt to class every morning. I know I am not perfect. But, I like to think that since no one is perfect, nobody can perfectly define the word. Thus, the idea of “perfect” is subject to interpretation, so that everyone can be perfect in their own way. I work hard to meet my personal definition of perfection, because I know that if I maximize my potential on a daily basis, though I may not attain perfection, I can come pretty darn close.
With all this philosophizing out of the way, I hereby present to you my 2011 New Year’s Resolutions:
1.) Do my best.
That is all. Applying this resolution to every aspect of my life will make me a better person and enable me to excel to the best of my abilities. When you think about it, what more can I do than my very best? If I put my all into my grades and get a 3.9 GPA, which is not the “perfect” 4.0, what can I do? If I do my best to hit the gym daily, but don’t catch my Zz’s one night and need to sleep in and skip the gym, what can I do? I refuse to drag a beat down body to the gym and fall asleep in all my classes that day in the name of perfection. Or to cheat on an exam worth 10% of my grade, risking 100% of my grade, in the name of perfection.
With that said, I am not going to sit here and tell you that my resolutions include: Get a 4.0 GPA; Work out every morning; Read more of the books my dad keeps getting me; etc. This long list can be summarized by the simple and somewhat overused clich�: “I will do my best.” Think about this phrase in relation to you in your everyday life and it will not be so clich�. What if we woke up every morning asking ourselves, “How can I do my best today?,” “How can I maximize my potential?” The phrase, then, would not be just another amongst the many that we hear. It will become one of the few we actually implement.
I want to be the best Joyce T. Chuinkam I can be in the year 2011, and if I fall short, so be it, as long as I tried. By God’s grace, I still have many more years to try again. Why don’t you challenge yourself to be the best _______(Insert your name here) you can be this year 2011 and save yourself the time, paper and ink with the unrealistic resolutions! Catch yourself dozing off in class and ask yourself “Is this the best me?” Catch yourself jogging passed an elderly person struggling to cross the street and question yourself again. When there is juicy gossip going around, before you chime in with your two-cents, make sure that is the best you that you are putting forward. If it isn’t, stop there before you break your new year’s resolution.
And finally faithful readers, when you do break your resolution (note that I said when because we are all human and we all make mistakes), remember that not all hope is lost; it doesn’t all go down the drain from there. If you put a heavier emphasis on the word “try” instead of the word “success,” 2011 just may be a little more satisfying than 2010.
PS: I just saw this commercial,during the break and although it was a Barbie commercial, it said “Fall in love with the best image of yourself.” And I thought of this post I had drafted and needed to include it.
HAPPY NEW YEAR and BEST WISHES TO ALL!
PEACE & LOVE ALWAYS. Stay Motivated. Stay Positive.