No matter who you are, the New Year is sure to have some meaning for you.
On a basic level, it means a chance to catch our breath after the hubbub of the Christmas season, with all its shopping pressures, big-meal pressures, family pressures and then credit-card-bill pressures.
And we can all take solace in the weather-related significance of having passed the winter solstice and beginning our march toward that spring equinox. Slowly but surely the days will get longer, and we can all enjoy the sunshine both before and after work.
But for many of us it’s a time of promises to do better. Yet as we all promise ourselves that 2013 will be different from 2012, there’s that part in the back of our minds that reminds us how abysmally our resolutions from last year worked out.
Whether it’s the crock-pot gathering dust in the kitchen cupboard after making healthy lunches every day last January, the exercise bike that’s been gathering dust since American Idol got back from its winter break or the pack of nicotine chewing gum that was going to help us kick the habit once and for all.
When we make selfish New Year’s Resolutions, we tend to let ourselves off the hook a little too easily.
So this year, let’s make resolutions that will benefit our entire community — things that will help us be more aware of the world around us, engaged with our neighbours and involved in more community activities to benefit us all.
We could commit to spending more time listening to what our elected representatives at all levels are doing with our money, and genuinely offering feedback to them through whatever channels are available to us instead of griping in the workplaces and the coffee shops.
We could make a point of knocking on the neighbour’s door and offering a cup of coffee or tea, or even shoveling their sidewalk as a gesture of goodwill.
We could volunteer our time with one of the many worthwhile charities in town — there are too many to name but all are dedicated to improving Westlock and the surrounding area in one way or another.
Let’s resolve to make 2013 a year of doing for others instead of worrying so much about ourselves.
