“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” —Henry David Thoreau

We live in a world dominated a great deal by shadows and sadness. Our fellow human brethren around the world have made a habit of manifesting their dark side: corruption, violence, betrayal, depression, extreme consumerism, debt, family divisions, stress, and overall life unhappiness and lack of satisfaction. I am, of course, generalizing, but at the same time it’s not difficult to see that a big picture of the situation of today’s humanity is not very inspiring or encouraging.

And so here comes 2014. Along with it, there will come legions of New Year Resolutions. 2014 is the chance for a new beginning, an opportunity to start from scratch and to make things better.

For this reason, I wanted to give my own New Year Resolutions a deeper thought, in order to make them be truly meaningful and not just another unfulfilled list of unrealistic plastic goals. I want 2014 to be a year in which I will truly make a difference on those around me, and in the process, also make a dent in my own life. I want my New Year Resolutions to make me a better individual. That way, I might even become an active part of a better society.

I first need some examination questions to go into the context of proper Resolution building:

What am I doing to achieve my goals? What am I doing to become a better person? Will I spend more time with my family this year? Will I wake up earlier so that I can make a better use of my time? Will I win the battle against my own laziness? Will I manage to get up from that couch and go running? Will this last more than 1 or 2 months? Will I take more risks this year? Will I finally win the battle against my biggest fears? Will I chase after my professional goals? Or will I shy away from them, yet again?

2014 should be a year for evaluating what it is that I want in life and what it takes to achieve it. I should break down these massive life goals into smaller goals that I can actually digest and dedicate time and effort to, today and on a daily basis. In the end, this is what would truly mean being true to myself. If I’m not spending my time every day in working towards these goals, what am I doing if not sabotaging and neglecting myself and my future happiness?

2014 should be a year to grow in consciousness and awareness. It should be a year in which I make a solid commitment for living in the present, for being grateful for all of the things and blessings that I do have, and for realizing that I am a finite being who will one day be no more.
It should be a year for evaluating whether I am a seed of good and positivity to this world or a parasite who’s adding to the growing woes and threats to our very existence. It should be a year for developing concerns for the planet, for decreasing my overall carbon footprint, for wasting less water, less energy, for generating less trash, for cleaning up my personal space. And in that process, for cleaning up my own soul.

2014 should be a year for caring more about others. I’m usually a selfish person, which is why it would be extremely healthy for me to climb out of my comfort zone to make others happy around me, strangers included. I should do voluntary work whenever possible. (I just wrote a note for that in my Calendar) Talking less shit about others should also be a very high priority on my list. Talking less shit about others is actually a fundamental step in becoming a better version of myself. If I keep talking shit about others, it means I am a shitty person. On the contrary, I should strive to be happy about other people’s success, about their victories, about their achievements. To be a better individual, it helps a lot if society around me is better; but then again, that improvement in turn begins with my own self. I should create that virtuous cycle. In the end, in a twisted yet logical way, it’s in my best interest to be a better person to others.

2014 should be a year for caring more about myself. How’s my diet? Am I feeding my body pounds and pounds of synthetic and processed crap? How’s my stress level? It is now well known that stress is like poison to the body. Am I then, intoxicating my body with unhappiness and lack of satisfaction with what I’m doing in life? What should I do about this? Will 2014 be a year in which I erase the shadows and pockets under my eyes by getting a normal person’s dose of sleep each night? Social life and being around loved ones is also an excellent tool for combating stress. 2014 should be a year to reach out to those who matter around me. 2014 should be a year to say “I love you” more; it’s a chance for eradicating future regrets.

2014 should be a year for living deliberately. “Living deliberately” is a term I learned from social rebel and philosopher Henry David Thoreau. It means the opposite of living life in auto-pilot; it means living purposefully. It is a life in which every decision made has a specific purpose aimed at overall life happiness and satisfaction. You want to travel? Go travel in 2014. You want to read books? Read them in 2014. You want to learn a new language? Learn it in 2014. It’s time to stop procrastinating out of fear or lack of awareness. It is time to go out and take a bold risk of living life to the fullest. I’m about to do this and I might fail, but I’ll rise a better man from those inevitable missteps. Tumbling and falling over is crucial to eventually becoming that man that I wish to be.

2014 should be a year for long term thinking. Success and fulfillment don’t happen overnight. Building worthwhile things in life takes time, effort and constancy. This is why 2014 should be a year to plan far in advance into the future. This doesn’t mean worrying obsessively about the future, but rather being responsible about what to do at this present moment in order to someday materialize that somewhat abstract future moment.

2014 should be a year for social cohesion. As I mentioned before, we need to start thinking more of our roles as collective social beings. Great things are achieved when whole societies unite for common causes. For that, it is necessary that I learn how to work as a member of a team. 2014 will be a year for me to work on empathy, on consideration towards others, on mutual respect for diversity.

2014 is thus an opportunity waiting to be seized by me. 2014 could be, as I mentioned before, a gigantic advance towards becoming the best possible version of myself. 2014 could be pivotal for growing as a human being, for evolving as a spiritual being, and for being re-born as a social being. 2014 could be lots of things; it is spilling over with potential. The catalyst needed is only my own willingness to go out and do what’s necessary. My single obstacle is myself, my dark side, my fears. Who’s going to win this epic battle? The answer to that question, again, is up to me.

So now, I think I’m in a more fit condition to write some New Year Resolutions that will actually be worthwhile, meaningful, and deeper than they have been in the past. They might even yield some interesting results in my life and in the lives of those around me.

I can’t wait for 2014 to begin… ☺