“If you set a goal for yourself and are able to achieve it, you have won your race. Your goal can be to come in first, to improve your performance, or just to finish the race - it's up to you.” Dave Scott
It’s the new year and time for me to select a new “theme” for 2010. I have always loved January 1st for a variety of reasons. I look at it as a time to start over – to refresh myself – to try something new and to give me something on which to focus for the year. I have eliminated the words “New Year’s Resolution” from my vocabulary simply because they only last a couple of weeks - when the year is “new”. When the year begins to age, I find that my resolutions disappear right along with the “newness” of the year. Instead, I focus on a theme for the year.
For example in 2008 my theme was “Because Nice Matters”. I TRIED to be as nice as I possibly could throughout 2008. There were occasions when my frustration with regard to a particular situation overtook my ability to be totally nice – so in those cases, I tried to be NICE-ER than I would have been in the same situation during previous years. In 2009 my theme was “The Cup is Half Full” and I TRIED my best to look on the bright side of things, rather than always expecting the worst. That was tough at times. For some reason when faced with a crisis, my thoughts tend to immediately jump to a negative conclusion. But since I did have a “theme” for the year that encouraged a “half full attitude”, I think I’ve made progress.
I have been pondering all the possible “themes” for 2010. Based on my busy schedule as well as my seemingly involuntary habit of getting myself involved in many, many, many different projects which tend to require much time and effort and always have a deadline that’s written in stone, Jonathan’s fiancée Erin suggested the theme “Finish the Race” to which I added “and Finish Strong”. I love it! It’s so me! I love to make lists, to categorize, to set goals, to plan and to check things off when completed. Even more importantly, I love to do it quickly and efficiently and I love to have a “strong finish” in the end. In other words, I’m intrigued and motivated by the whole “race concept”.
My first race of 2010 began on January 1st. I did sign up for it, but had no idea what to expect. You may have heard of the “Disney Give a Day, Get a Day” volunteer opportunity. (www.disneyparks.com) Project Linus is one of the official non-profit organizations that is partnering with Disney. A variety of service opportunities are posted on their website and if you register and complete one, they will give you a free day at either Disney World or Disneyland. I posted three opportunities for our chapter and was excited to think that we would be getting some blankets and new volunteers as a result. Beginning at 9:00am on New Year’s Day, the calls and e-mails started coming in. For the past 4 days, I have been on the computer answering e-mails non-stop. So far, I have had hundreds and hundreds of e-mails and almost 400 people who have committed to making blankets. I almost dropped out of the race yesterday, when I thought that I would no longer walk again after discovering that my bones seemed to have fused themselves into a “sitting at the computer position”.
But – after a warm bath, and a good night’s sleep, and the calming words of a wonderful husband, I decided simply to forge on. I do plan to not only finish this race but to also finish strong! More importantly, the children who will benefit from these beautiful hugs of comfort will win right along with me!
I wonder what my next race will be? I’ll keep you posted!
Happy Blanketmaking!
Mary
