Can you believe it? 2008? How on earth can this be so? We tend to look at time passing so quickly as a bad thing; that we’re running out of it. Is there time to become the people we’re really meant to be? Can we attain our dreams before it’s too late?

Maybe time passing quickly can be used to our advantage. Think of this: if we had instituted a plan a year ago and stuck to it, it would be our reality now. Most of us think of diets this time of year. If we had eaten just a few less calories per day throughout the past year, we would be at that target weight we hold in our minds. How about getting in shape? A bit of time devoted several times a week and we’d have the strong, flexible bodies we desire. In a year’s time, one can get a quarter of a college education, and if it’s home improvement that’s needed, 52 weekends take care of lots of projects. If we had started a hobby last January, we’d be pretty good at it by now, and that reading list that’s longer than our arm would have been whittled down.

As we look out over this year, we can begin to make changes that in seemingly no time will become firm parts of us. As fast as last year went, this year will go just as fast or faster. In just this year we can be, or do, or learn whatever we want. We can decide now whether we’ll be disappointed in ourselves next year at this time for letting yet another year go by or feeling like we have that major change out of the way and ready to take on another.

I’ve noticed something about changes. We have to really be ready for them. In a past article I talked about how hard it was to quit smoking when I did it eons ago. It didn’t really dawn on me that quitting smoking meant never smoking again. Yet when I was really ready, I let it go fairly easily. We have to be realistic about change. We can’t do things because we think we should or because someone else wants us to. Just because we get a message from the outside that we should be more organized, or have a “better” job, or give up sweets or whatever, it doesn’t mean it’s true for us. When we can look at ourselves and truly be at peace with where we’re at, there’s no need to do a thing. But most of us have a thing or two we’re uncomfortable about, something we’re about done with, sick to death of.

Before deciding to do something about it, we might look at the habits and routines we have now with an eye toward understanding how they serve us or probably more correctly how they have served us in the past. Are we feeding holes in our hearts that can best be filled in other ways? Do we shy away from developing talents to hide ourselves from others? Is holding on to familiar feelings of failure more comfortable than embracing a new attitude of success? I have a friend who says we should never go away from a situation, but rather to go toward something better. If we’re looking at change as giving something up, maybe we’re not ready. If we can, on the other hand, perceive a good new place for ourselves, now’s the time.

In a blink of an eye we’ll be looking at 2009. Where will we be this time next year - feeling bad about being in the same old place, or rejoicing in the expanded new selves we’ve become? Day by day let’s make our dreams come true over this next year and greet the next New Year with a sense of accomplishment and expectation.