A year ago today, I wrote a blog post at approximately the same time of day as this post for the purpose of welcoming 2012 and reCAPPING 2011 (yes, I know that pun was awesome). One of the main points I talked about in that post was how I usually learn things the hard way, and my resolution was simply to see an improvement between 2011 and 2012.
Now the percentage of people who are in their 20s in America who actually follow through and report that their new year's resolution was a success is a decent 39%. (Statisticbrain: New Year's Resolution Statistics) This percentage was actually higher than I thought that it would be, but the percentage drops steeply as those surveyed approach their 50s. According to statisticbrain.com, the percentage of people in America over 50 who keep their resolutions is less than 14%. (Statistics were calculated from 2011 data)
I'm happy to be among those who can report a successful new year's resolution. Actually, 2012 has been one of the best years of my life. (Although it is closely tied with the year when I was nine years old. That was an AWESOME year!)
2012 was a year of growth, achievement, and memories. I cannot quite put into words how grateful I am for the successes and triumphs I experienced in this past year. 2011 was a disheartening year. A year of failure, betrayal, and personal shortcomings. It is very hard to watch the people you love give up on you, and it's hard to see the disappointment you've caused others. But even more than these things, it's hard to explain how it feels to disappoint and give up on yourself. I was walking a fine line. A line where I had the choice between giving up, and improving. Fortunately, along with terrible eyesight and bad teeth, I also inherited from my family tree an unconquerable stubborn will. I was only a child when my family first noticed my bull-headed stubbornness. Maybe it was the way I doggedly learned to walk on stilts, or maybe it was the complex system of pulleys and tree limbs I used to launch trash bags into a dumpster, but at some point during my childhood it became painfully clear that I was a wild child with a temper and an aversion to the phrases "no" and "you can't". If my parents weren't equally as determined as I was, I'm sure I would have turned out differently.
There are so many factors which come into play when raising a child, and there are so many things which can go wrong. Children are environmental sponges, and each child is like opening Pandora's box. Human personalities are all different, and you can never tell what kind of a personality a child will have. Genetically, the odds could be tipped against you from the beginning.
But I'm getting off-topic. My point is not to promote my personal sentiments about having children or pro-life versus pro-choice. On the contrary, my point is to say that I have a very unique combination of personality factors. These factors make me very successful now, but all of these specific traits in one person presents a very contrasting inner atmosphere, and this can be very chaotic for an adolescent. I struggled with how strange I was in my own eyes. I knew that I had different opinions and viewpoints from the majority of my family and peers. I felt like an outsider in my own life.
Either way, whatever the reasons, and whatever the results, there were several years with varying levels of turbulence as I battled adolescence. 2011 was one such year.
This is why I went back and read the post I wrote one year ago today. I wanted to see the change. My expectations where mild. I simply wanted 2012 to be a better year. And a better year, it has been. I rocked another school year, learned to admire who I am, acquired a substantial movie collection, made new friends, reunited with family, and on 12/31/12 I danced Gangnam style with several million other PSYched Earthlings. (Side note: Psy's performance of Gangnam style [which you can view here] was epic on a global proportion.)
Overall, 2012 resolution achieved. And 2013's resolution? Non-existent, I've decided to give myself a year off from resolutions. I am honestly just so freakin satisfied with 2012, I can't think of anything upsetting enough to make a resolution about.
2012 was a year of growth, achievement, and memories. I cannot quite put into words how grateful I am for the successes and triumphs I experienced in this past year. 2011 was a disheartening year. A year of failure, betrayal, and personal shortcomings. It is very hard to watch the people you love give up on you, and it's hard to see the disappointment you've caused others. But even more than these things, it's hard to explain how it feels to disappoint and give up on yourself. I was walking a fine line. A line where I had the choice between giving up, and improving. Fortunately, along with terrible eyesight and bad teeth, I also inherited from my family tree an unconquerable stubborn will. I was only a child when my family first noticed my bull-headed stubbornness. Maybe it was the way I doggedly learned to walk on stilts, or maybe it was the complex system of pulleys and tree limbs I used to launch trash bags into a dumpster, but at some point during my childhood it became painfully clear that I was a wild child with a temper and an aversion to the phrases "no" and "you can't". If my parents weren't equally as determined as I was, I'm sure I would have turned out differently.
There are so many factors which come into play when raising a child, and there are so many things which can go wrong. Children are environmental sponges, and each child is like opening Pandora's box. Human personalities are all different, and you can never tell what kind of a personality a child will have. Genetically, the odds could be tipped against you from the beginning.
But I'm getting off-topic. My point is not to promote my personal sentiments about having children or pro-life versus pro-choice. On the contrary, my point is to say that I have a very unique combination of personality factors. These factors make me very successful now, but all of these specific traits in one person presents a very contrasting inner atmosphere, and this can be very chaotic for an adolescent. I struggled with how strange I was in my own eyes. I knew that I had different opinions and viewpoints from the majority of my family and peers. I felt like an outsider in my own life.
Either way, whatever the reasons, and whatever the results, there were several years with varying levels of turbulence as I battled adolescence. 2011 was one such year.
This is why I went back and read the post I wrote one year ago today. I wanted to see the change. My expectations where mild. I simply wanted 2012 to be a better year. And a better year, it has been. I rocked another school year, learned to admire who I am, acquired a substantial movie collection, made new friends, reunited with family, and on 12/31/12 I danced Gangnam style with several million other PSYched Earthlings. (Side note: Psy's performance of Gangnam style [which you can view here] was epic on a global proportion.)
Overall, 2012 resolution achieved. And 2013's resolution? Non-existent, I've decided to give myself a year off from resolutions. I am honestly just so freakin satisfied with 2012, I can't think of anything upsetting enough to make a resolution about.
