once applied
paint soon peels away —
symmetry
People are preoccupied with Christmas so soon after being worried about Thanksgiving, but what looms beyond may already be unconsciously preying on the minds of many: a new year. It’s coming up fast, and having Christmas in the way taking up all of our attention only serves to make that New Year and its rituals more urgent when it comes into focus at that point just a few days away.
Thus some of us make hasty resolutions and we try to keep them so we might remake ourselves a little better than before, while others buck the trend by refusing to play the resolution game. Still, the common thread of both the resolvers and the non-resolvers is the desire to change.
I say, is it not better to start planning early? Isn’t the best time to plan next year’s change right now, while we still have a month to think it over?
The thing about change is that it’s all about one’s habits, and just like a fresh coat of paint those habits need to be maintained over time and occasionally freshened up in order to keep that change from peeling away. How easy is that to accomplish without a game plan? Even more important still is proper preparation of the surface before painting; ignoring that detail can cause it to peel away much faster.
Next year, I plan to amp up the adventure. I don’t know how I’m going to do that just yet, but there’s no pressure because I have a whole month to stew on it, to make lists and brainstorm. The snow falls and then melts away, leaving us ready to start over fresh.The question is, will we be entrenched in the same rituals where optimal satisfaction has not been reached, or will we be ready to seize the initiative?
Think about what you want for 2015. How would you change what you’re doing now to fit that?
(it happens to be pure coincidence that Andra Watkins has begun formulating a challenge this very day to do something to Make a Memory in 2015 — I think it’s a worthwhile idea and while the aforelinked post is merely an effort to seek input from her readers, I would encourage anyone to give her idea a good think.)
Imagine the adventure, my friends, and be prepared to make it happen.
🙂
Rob's Surf Report 
Thanks for the shout-out, Rob. I’m looking forward to hearing all about you and Mrs. Surf Report’s kayaking adventures.
I wish I had a discreet way to point this out. Rob (I don’t, at the moment)– but the link is broken.
So what I will do to make up for the potential gaffe is now that I sussed the URL on my own, I will reblog/Tweet it, so WP’ers can get to Andra’s link easily.
dang, that’s the second time you helped me out! Thanks for the heads up, I’ll get that fixed.
Got it! There was an extra “http://” at the beginning (rolls eyes). Mobile blogging is not without its annoyances! Forget discreet, I really appreciate that you gave me a shout about that. Thank you, Jonathan.
I’m not quite sure why Automattic hasn’t addressed this yet– it’s a known problem.
They’re strange, that’s what I think.
Strange, indeed! I choose to continue to rock the desktop, but I’m fully aware that mobile devices is where the industry (and its customers) have moved to.
It pains me to say this, but perhaps they might take a page from Yahoo!, in what’s been done for Flickr. Although I find the drop down menus a little clunky with a mouse, most of the new Flickr UI works okay on the desktop.