New Year for a New Journey

"I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the years'." ---Henry Moore

Looking back on the past year it was a year of great blessings and a few setbacks. First, I want to express my extreme gratitude to live upon this Earth with so many wonderful, beautiful people. I am an extremely blessed man and the Lord has blessed me with a loving family and many friends. I have the pleasure of residing in an amazing country where opportunity still exists for the determined.

This past year I remarried and my heart once again became full. I married a very strong woman in character and love. Her determination, work ethic, and ability to love astonish me. I am a fortunate man to have the opportunity to experience love once again and to have found such an amazing person as a companion. My two children love and adore her and she them. When my two stepchildren are with us and my two birth children are as well, we are quite the amazing family. We blended into a very loving and fun family. I take great joy in watching the four beautiful children enjoy the family setting and all hearts be full with joy.

"I have always grown from my problems and challenges, from the things that don't work out, that's when I've really learned." ---Carol Burnett

I had a few challenges this past year as well. My overall journey towards my goals were slowed somewhat as I focused on other areas of my life. Ongoing relations with my ex-spouse are somewhat strained and I certainly wish that was not the case. It seems that many people fuel the contention, however when we communicate without others involved it is more peaceful. I have recently concluded that I cannot do much to improve this situation. I really can only take care of my own actions. I absolutely love and adore my children and cherish every moment they are here in my home. I plan to focus on being the best husband, father, neighbor and son of God that I can. If I focus on those things, I believe this will have the best impact on all those around me and be the best example for my children.

I do not believe I will make resolutions for the New Year. Instead, I believe I will list a few goals. First, I will focus on my physical health and fitness. More specifically, I plan to workout much more in 2012. I have learned the eating habits to remain thin for life. I find that if I am working out more frequently that these healthier habits are easier to keep. Second, I plan to learn more and do more. I have desired to write a few things and see if they have potential. This is a challenging endeavor as I learned something this past year about writing. Unlike verbal communicating, the written word has the power to offend and upset someone. Verbally, we can choose to whom and what we communicate. If you do not like to be offensive and confrontational, you can avoid those situations. However, with the written word those thoughts and opinions remain. Eventually, someone comes along and is greatly offended by what you have written.

My beautiful wife says that I should just write it and develop a thick skin. She believes I should include essays and other things on this blog. Although essays are not what I want to work on, I can certainly write short essays. However, I once wrote something my beautiful wife did not appreciate. I remember the sinking, uncomfortable feeling I had of letting her down and being offensive. Again, that is never my intention. I want to be peaceful and loving to all people. After realizing her uncomfortable feelings of my written word, I deleted them and took time off from writing. Having a thick skin is not something I have demonstrated in the past. I certainly see my beautiful and brilliant wife’s point. I need to develop the confidence and thick skin to do what I desire to do.

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." ---Ralph Waldo Emerson

The New Year marks the opportunity to begin a new journey. Every journey begins with a single step. Each day we take one more step. I remember the first time on that treadmill a few years ago. I weighed more than 430 pounds, I walked at speed 1.3mph and for 2:30 and thought, I was going to die. That is two-minutes and thirty-seconds and at a ridiculously slow speed. I remember hobbling in pain out to my car and driving to a secluded spot and I openly wept. How did it come to this? How did I lose control? Then, I focused on my why and why I went to the gym for the first time in a decade. Every journey needs that why. Why do we do it and why do we stay focused and determined.

New Years day is an amazing day as I begin a new journey, building the strong why to keep me taking that single step forward repeatedly. I hope you have a goal for the New Year and are wildly successful in taking step after step. Along the way, remember to laugh, love and live full.

"If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. With confidence, you have won even before you have started." ---Marcus Tullius Cicero

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience by which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." ---Eleanor Roosevelt

"You are about to begin the hero's journey. Travel well on the quest. A life of More is your birthright. Know the vast resource that reside in you and are provided for you in the world. You have raised the battle cry of There Must Be More Than This." ---Judith Wright