Day One

Everyone makes promises on January 1st. We do a bunch of things we know we shouldn’t be doing between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, then on January 1st, we tell ourselves “Today! Today is the day I turn my life around.” Then you make a list of everything you need to do, from diet and exercise to building a bird house. And if there are ten things on your list, you gave up 9 of them by the end of the week.

What if we didn’t do that though? What if we approached it differently.

On Thursday, I had a list of a few things I needed to do. It was Day One and I was determined to get to them. And then I didn’t. In fairness, I did have a good excuse. Jason Lanier called and asked if I could it make it to a video shoot.

So I didn’t end up fixing the oven or doing those other things. I didn’t exercise or get any writing done. But that’s okay.

What if instead of making a list of things you’ve needed to do for decades and deciding you’re suddenly going to accomplish them, you threw out the list? What if we decided that instead we would do one meaningful thing each day. Doesn’t matter what it is. Just. One. Thing. Easily digestible and totally accomplishable.

And it doesn’t have to be some kind of work. Maybe it is as simple as going to a New Orleans Pelicans game with one of my best friends?

I think the point is to live life to the fullest. To not have days that feel wasted. And the best way to do that isn’t necessarily to have some kind of important routine. Maybe it’s just being sure not to waste the precious days of your life.

So get out there and do something.