61 Days

We have 61 days left in the year. Sixty-one days to accomplish the New Year's Resolutions we pledged ten months ago. 

I'm saying this a little tongue-in-cheek, because I'm not big on New Year's Resolutions per se. I do think the new year is a great time to reflect on the past year and project your anticipations of the next 365 days. What did you accomplish? What was a surprise, good or "bad?" How did your "oh, wow" moments compare to the "oh, crap" ones?

What a difference a year makes. Or perhaps just 365 days. 

There was a part of me that wished I'd started this blog in January, mainly because it would feel clean. Defined. 

But then that's not what life is about, is it? Life isn't "clean." It's complicated and messy and miraculous and mysterious. 

I personally believe everything happens for a reason. Heck, I literally "wrote the book" on things happening for a reason – and what the reasons are. (My book Five Reasons Why Bad Things Happen: How to Turn Tragedies Into Triumph.) The reasons are complicated (hence a 300+ page book), but suffice it to say that some are predetermined, some we consciously create and some are influenced by outside forces. More on that later.

Let's get back to the 61 days. What will you do to "catch up" to where you thought you'd be by the end of the year? And perhaps more importantly, how will you treat yourself if you fail? If you succeed? Is there a difference?

And here's a song that I'm listening to right now. I love discovering new artists!