"There's only now, there's only here
Give in to love or live in fear
No other path, no other way
No day but today."
- Idina Menzel
This year, instead of making New Year's resolutions, I adopted a New Year's theme.
Resolutions, as we all well know, are rules that take the shape of fussy dos and don'ts, often particular, picky and difficult to perform.Three weeks in, we've broken them all and once the guilt wears off, the whole exercise is blessedly forgotten.
A theme, by contrast, is a unifying idea that provides inspiration and guidance, priority and direction.
Simply put, themes are to carrots as resolutions are to sticks, and I personally can get excited about that distinction.
So. My 2016 theme did not fall from the sky on January 1; it's been growing in my head for the past few months and finally came tumbling out in fully formed sentences:
This is the point in my life when I am no longer content to wait for things to happen.
Though my life is good, my head and heart are full of dreams and I want to make them all come true.
I need to find ways to bring my dreams to life without using my modest finances as a barrier, or an excuse to delay.
No one knows how much life lies ahead of them. I want to use every minute I have, and when the day comes that I've run out of time, I want to look back with no regrets.
There is no day but today for making my dreams come true.
Yes, I know this sounds very Eat, Pray, Love, and while I'm most certainly in favor of roaming the world and eating pasta, my theme also has repercussions on a much smaller level.
Take today, for instance.
Months ago, I read about a genius idea for marking all those ubiquitous white charging cords and power blocks that lie around our post-modern homes with little snippets of washi tape, so that each person in the household can sort out one another's property.
Well. my charging paraphernalia is constantly intermingled with my daughters' accessories, and I own several rolls of washi tape. The project would take zero dollars and five minutes to complete, and would save me at least that much time every single day of my life.
Still, many moons have passed, and I've never bothered to make that simple task happen.
Until today.
There was nothing special about today. As usual, I ran across a stray cord on the kitchen counter, puzzled over whose it might be, and then thought for the millionth time about that washi tape idea. But today, as I laid down the cord and began to move away, the words of my theme rang out in my head:
No day but today.
Fast forward a few minutes, and the job was done. I cannot describe the satisfaction and pleasure I feel every time I notice the little polka dotted tags on my gear.
Yes, they do make my life easier.
But much more importantly, they remind me that my theme for this year is powerful and good and true.
There really is no day but today.
* * * * *
Celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas with me!
The Ninth Day
