Okay, okay. Fine. So it took me eight days, six conversations (two of which were about failed resolutions already… “His mother’s name is Janet, but I didn’t actually get three dinners out of the deal…”), and a Bellini at breakfast on the beach (it is Sunday Funday, after all) for me to get all sentimental about the new year. And of course, the world is supposed to end this year, so we might as well get a little nostalgic. (Question:  How do you know Lauren Grant is a hardcore conflict-avoider? Answer:  When it comes to the end of the world, she posts a cartoon.)

The new year signifies the passing of time, and the passing of time kind of scares us sometimes.  We start thinking about the “good ol’ days”…(“Remember ‘Tequila Night’ after the UF/FSU game? Spending the night face down in the grass of some stranger’s yard really wasn’t all that bad…It was just that dang automatic sprinkler system that put a damper on things.” Ha. Thank God there isn’t photographic evidence.)

(Just add water.)

After we ponder the past, we often turn toward the future and what it holds for us.  During the past few days, I’ve had some enlightening conversations with people who believe they are either (one) the “overcomers” of their fate, pushing and pulling and scraping their way toward their goals, or (two) those people who seem to float by, just taking what’s “given” to them.  In short, the “doers” and the “waiters.”  Both have specific dreams for the months and years ahead.  Both needed a little inspiration.

By request, (you know who you are), here is a list of top ten optimistic thoughts (according to some of my dear friends and loved ones) to ponder while planning (and acting on) those good old New Year’s Resolutions:

10.  “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” ~Unknown

9.  “Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.” ~Winston Churchill

8.  “Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.” ~Pope John XXIII

7.  “In a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” ~Warren Buffett

6.  “Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.” ~C.S. Lewis

5.  “Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.” ~Walter Anderson

4.  “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” ~Elbert Hubbard

3.  “Courage doesn’t always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.”  ~M.A.  Radmacher

2.  “Do one thing every day that scares you.”  ~Eleanor Roosevelt

And finally, one I know to be true…

1.  “A year from now you will wish you had started today.” ~Karen Lamb

So whether it be to mowing the lawn before the neighbors for once or to starting a whole new career in a field that would make your father shake his head and sigh, here’s to the New Year and all the open doors and windows it brings.

*Thanks to T. Swift for those sweet lyrics