It always happens when you least expect it...

Dear Friends, Fellow Blogger's and people who don't know me and are reading this,

I am determined to  have the most positive outlook I can and let me tell you, so far, 2012 has been a GREAT year. Yes, I know that it has only been 18 days, but everything that has happened to me within those 18 days, even the bad, has shown me that as long as you keep your head up and continue to truck on, nothing can go wrong.

It's all about being proactive, not reactive (right, Adrian Cook!?!?). Ha. There are many things that I have learned at camp, but none of them have stuck with me quite like being proactive.  Sometimes I may be a little too proactive, but who can blame me? I just go after the things I want.

I have recently come into a lot of happenstance circumstances. With everything working out the way it has, I have become so energized and I am determined to make that last. Not only that, but for the first time in my 26 years of life, I have WRITTEN down my New Years Resolutions. Normally, I don't make them, but this year, I want to improve on my way of life and I am choosing to better myself. Nobody is going to do it for me, so I am the one who has to start somewhere.  I heard somewhere that most people don't make New Year's resolutions because they "know" they won't stick with them. Yet, the people that do, about 50% of them give up within the first two weeks and then the rest slowly tapper off as well (do not quote me on any of the above information, I heard it a while ago and probably made up the 50% ratio...I believe it's higher, actually...but maybe not).

This will not be me. I have a list of my resolutions on my mirror. I wrote right on the mirror. That way I have to look at it EVERYDAY when I wake up and for light reading when I need it...
I feel so much better already. It is amazing what a "for real" positive attitude and some self motivation can do for a person. I have something to work towards now. Not that I didn't before, but now, it's real and I'm making it happen. Before, I think I was sitting on it because I was afraid of failure. Here is the thing though, I don't know if you know this, but nobody knows what the future holds. Sorry to burst your bubble! Ha. I know people say failure is "not an option", but when we fail, we learn from our mistakes. So maybe, in small ways, I will practice failure, that way I'll know what to do when if it ever becomes a big deal.

I think even though we, as people, know that we cannot tell the future, we still have some sort of glimmer or hope that the fortune tellers we call late at night, when nobody is around or that horoscope app you added to your iPhone, really will tell us when we'll find true love, get a promotion or find success in our newest weight loss program.  Truth is, people, our life is what WE make of it. I believe in God, the Almighty and I love Jesus. I believe that He has planned out my life, but there is only so much that He can do. At the end of the day, I am the one making the decisions in my life, I just have to make sure that they are with good intentions and I am following His guidance. God gave us free will for a reason. We can sit here and curse Him all we want, even if one does not believe in him. We think that "if there was a God", then he wouldn't let bad things happen. The fact of the matter is, He gave us free will and what we do with that is up to us. The question is, what do you do when those bad things happen and can you continue? Will you continue? You have to make the choice, you can either let this bad thing consume you, or you can do something about it and continue.

What you do, who you are and what you think are your own. Don't EVER let anyone take that away from you, but remember: Hold yourself responsible for your choices. You have nobody to blame but yourself if you fail or succeed. So choose to go on and choose to be the best person you can be. Seek council from friends, but remember you are the one who will have to make the final decision and make sure you are making it for yourself and no one else. Nobody can MAKE you do anything. You have the choice.

I don't mean to sound all preach-y, but the number one thing I am learning (even though my Dad has been telling me this since I was a wee, little one), is that we have a choice in EVERYTHING we do. We can decided to fight or we can decide to let go. Sure there are situations where it may not look like we have a choice, but if you really think about it, you will find a way to make a choice.

I am saying all of this because of the choices I am making, I want to make for the better, but sometimes, that just doesn't happen. It is what I am deciding to do after the fact and how I choose to help myself. Not often, but every once in a while, I let my friends influence my decision so much that I don't go with my gut. I know they are all looking out for me and their opinions are very important to me, however this time, I let them take me over. This wasn't a HUGE mistake, but it made me question some things and I hesitated. When I hesitate, I don't seem confident in my end decision. For that, I apologize. Yes, I went against what everyone was telling me not to do, but I wanted to do it. In the end, I should have been confident to know that it would all turn out OK and to go with my gut and tell you. It's not a decision that should change anything, now that I think about it all, but I believe it makes things a little more real. So, now I have to deal with that too.

Everything happens when you least expect it...or does it? I think you have to set goals and go after them. Along the way, things will happen that will surprise you and things will happen that you won't be expecting, but that is the beauty of life and things will happen no matter what you do, so you might as well make them positive.

Good Luck to you all and I will be posting every New Years Resolution I have, on this blog, so I can be held even more accountable than before. Make them known and then celebrate when the short-term ones happen and continue improving on the other long term goals. It's going to happen, ladies and gentlemen and it's going to be a GREAT year!



Make sure you stay tuned, for as you all know, I'm never in one spot for long...

AC out.