2011. New Year New Start??

This is, evidently, my first post of the year, so Happy New Year to you all :)

I have read lots of blogs, tweets, facebook updates, etc. about the optimism that the new year brings. 'Out with the old and in with the new', 'New Year, New Start' etc. etc. How long does it last? If people are so keen to change, to try that new diet, to quit smoking, to be a better person, why do they feel the need to wait until the new year?

Now, if there is one thing that I could be a 'mastermind' at, it would be the fine art of procrastination. Oh, don't you just love it, putting off simple tasks by doing another, meaningless task so meticulously that by the time you eventually get to do the task you have to do, you lose focus, energy or motivation to do anything at all. Often when I have to do uni work, I'll do anything and everything to busy myself to forget about the task given, anything from sorting out my bookshelves to cleaning the kitchen, to rearranging the cupboards, or even....tidying my room. OK, facebook is a massive procrastination tool too, it's terrible how much sitting at my laptop constantly refreshing the faceboom homepage to see if anyone has said anything interesting, only to read about people procrastinating in the same way I am. I think what I'm trying to say is, why wait to change? If you've been given the mental kick to do something, don't let the little tasks of the new day get in the way of your motivation! If you're reading this as a Christian, and one of your resolutions is to spend more time with God, then for goodness sake, stop reading this and go and do it! (I am in hypocrite mode, as you can see..)

Last year, I wrote a list of all of the things I wanted to do by the same time next year. They were to get a job (check) fly in an aeroplane (check) Go abroad to do mission (check) and go to University (check) Conquer my fears (which were all of the above) I can happily say that I managed to achieve all this and more in the latter months of 2010.
What have you always wanted to do, but haven't had the time to do? What do you spend your days doing, and how much of that time could be consumed with striving to achieve that goal? You have been given the desires of your heart for a reason, they're not just there as an unachievable dream, they're there to be taken hold of, for your to do whatever it takes to achieve it. You are more powerful, and more able to achieve than you think you are. So this new year, (hey, it's a new year, such a good excuse to analyse your life, doncha think? :P) think about what it is this time next year you want to be able to say you've achieved.