And this...Also.

We are twelve days into this New Year. Two weeks in, and I'd wager that some people are already giving up on their resolutions. The snooze button gets hit harder, longer than usual; the gym membership sits idle, the diet veers off course. However. If you’re anything like me, rather than let those resolutions fall by the wayside, you just keep adding more to the list.

I’ve been updating my 2011 planner, you see. And oh, this red planner of mine, it’s a bit of a lifeline for my year. Friends birthdays, upcoming events, meetings, appointments, rendezvouses, dates made, they all go into the planner. The act of writing my plans down is what makes them official, what helps me know these events are solid, genuine, will really take place.

And what a thing it can be to flip through an entire year of pages. You jot down birthdays each month, note a few doctors and dentists appointments you’ve scheduled six months in advance, star the dates that you have received “save the dates” for…and well, your year begins to take shape. Last week, as I began to clutter these blank planner pages with life, I thought of two things I would like 2011 to entail, beyond the other goals I’ve set for myself.

Inspired by a good friend and our agreement to mutually adopt this motto, I would like the year of 2011 to be the year of saying YES. Oh we all know that I spread myself entirely too thin all of the time and I’d probably be wise to say no more than I do. But this is not the kind of yes I’m speaking of. Nor do I speak of the wild and crazy yes – you won’t find me agreeing to jump out of a plane or the like. What I want is to say yes when I really feel like saying no – because I’m nervous, scared, or fear the outcome. Haven’t I learned by now that the majority of the things I worry the most about are never as bad as they seem? And that sometimes those fears never materialize at all?

The other day I wrote down two words on the first page of this infamous red planner I mentioned above:

Have Courage.

That's it. If I can find the voice to say yes when I'd rather say no and I can continue to drum up the courage I know lies within my head and my heart, I will be pleased. In both 2011...and perhaps, for all the years that follow.