What Christmas means to me

It is nearly Christmas day.  Is everyone ready?  Do you have all your presents wrapped? Tree up?  Food bought to prepare?

With those questions being asked I want to know, what does Christmas mean to you?

Does it mean lots of presents?

Does it mean a big dinner with family?

Or something else?

To me, Christmas means the year is nearly over.  It means it's nearly time to start a new year; time to start with a fresh slate.  Well not a completely fresh slate, but you get the idea.  

Have you heard of "New Year's Resolutions"?  How many of you have made them before and by the end of January have completely given up on them?  I know I have!  

That's why this year I want to try something different.  In stead of making New Year's resolutions, I just want to make a plan for my new year and follow through on it.  

"Well isn't that the same thing?" you may be asking.

Well, I don't think so.  You see, many people say "I want to quit smoking as my new years resolution"  and by the end of third day they go right back to smoking.

Where as, with my plan, I want to get a hospital job which means I have to quit to smoking since most hospitals in my area will not hire smokers.  So, instead of waiting till the first of year to "quit" smoking I went to my doctor to talk to him about what I should do medication wise to quit smoking.  He prescribed me Wellbutrin XL which has an off label use to help people quit smoking.  You smoke on it for the first week and then you stop and it helps control the mood problems that are associated with quitting smoking.

See the difference there? I planned ahead, I started working on my plan before the first of the year.  I Believe New Year's resolutions fail because people people think things can easily be instantly stopped.  Hell even if your resolution was going to be to quit shopping so much, do you really think you can just stop doing that because a new year started? 

My next step in my plan is to move out on my own again and into my own loft in downtown Kansas City.  Instead of waiting till the first of the year, I have already started looking around for places and have even set up an appointment to go view a few different lofts with this company called Mac Properties.  I told them that I wouldn't be moving in until at the latest March first but that I wanted to weigh my options out now and have plenty of time to decided. 

You see, Christmas is a magical time.  Not only because it brings families together, but it also means your year is almost over.  It means you get to start a new year with a chance to make major changes in your life.  Change is scary, which is why I think so many people fail at their "New Year's Resolutions".

So planning it out ahead of time, starting the change before the new year starts, and taking the steps slowly is, in my opinion, the best way to accomplish a new years resolution.

So although it is already New Year's Eve and this post took me a little longer to post then expected (sorry drowned myself in work to avoid issues at home) there is still plenty of time to plan out what you want to change next year and set that plan into motion.

With all that said, I want to wish all of my readers a (late) Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year's! I hope your Christmas' were magical and Santa brought you all that you wanted.  I also hope you all have a safe New Year's Eve and have the time of your life!  Make the start of 2015 something amazing so that way you have solid foundation to make the rest of the year something even more amazing!