I'm too fat. I don't give enough to charity. I stress over most things. I'm late turning in my latest book... again. I yell at my kids. I go out to eat way too much and I use credit cards with wild abandon.
Hmmm... I have the sneaking suspicion that I may be flawed. I mean, seriously flawed.
I might need some fine tuning. I might need to revamp my life. Help! Help! Call Dr. Phil. Call Oprah. I don't think I can do this remodel on my own. I mean, I've been flawed an awful long time.
Years. Dog years.
And so, my question is this: Can an old dog learn new tricks?
After we get to a certain age, can we make life-altering changes? Can we evolve into more evolved human beings? I mean, can we improve?
Can we and should we? Perhaps we should just leave well enough alone. Maybe we are fully formed by now and we should be thankful to be reasonably adapted individuals with reasonable lives for reasonable times. Or are we never fully formed? Perhaps there's no age limit to self-improvement. Should old dogs be striving to learn new tricks?
It's new tricks season. New Year's. Resolution time. If I wrote a resolution list, it could fill three pages: I should mediate. I need to make more money. I must find more quality time with my kids. I shouldn't eat junk food, carbs or sugar. The list would go on and on. Oh, it's a seriously long list.
Actually, it would be the same resolution list I've made or wanted to make for years. I could reuse my lists from 2004 or 2006. They would only need minor tweaking to make them current. That doesn't say a lot about my ability to keep my resolutions. Drat. I told you: I'm seriously flawed.
How's your list doing? Do you have one? Are you in a resolution frame of mind? Will 2013 be the year where you do everything right? Will you look back on this year and say: This is the year I turned it all around. This is the year I became a thin, healthy, zen, multilingual, philanthropic jet setter who does power yoga five times a week.
Oh, that sounds good. Its very tempting to do better, do more, lead a close to perfect life. Alright, I will make a list and make 2013 a year of opportunities, a blank canvas to paint with the new and improved version of myself. I hereby resolve to make 2013 a year a lot better than 2012, and I will get to that list just as soon as I get back from dinner. I'm going out for pasta.