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I resolve to write a good blog post

I'm like most people, I suppose. Or many people anyway.
I'm good at setting out on new projects (mostly of the self-improvement kind), but I'm poor at following through on them.
And, like other folks, I make new year's resolutions that fail a few strides out of the gate (my resolutions have a lot of energy, but it's spent in the first furlong). I also make resolutions throughout the year that have a similar effect: They peter out.
I like to resolve, but I don't have resolve.
In the past few years, I've launched into a yoga lifestyle, I've started the next great novel and I've stepped toward running a 5k race. All have been folly (so far, I guess I should say).
But let me step back a few sentences. It's pretty extreme to say I lack resolve.
I have plenty. Sometimes my ideas are a bit too impractical, too ill-fitting. Yoga? Me? Really?
I have some success stories:
  • I resolved to become a vegetarian, and I've been one for more than 10 years.
  • Before my senior year in high school, I resolved to lose weight, and I lost 35 pounds, albeit on a surely not-too-healthy bratwurst-only diet.
  • And a few years back, I resolved to be more productive in the mornings before work, and I was, albeit what I was productive on changed frequently.
And sometimes my resolve came when I was unknowingly making a resolution. Take, for example, my fear of commitment. I assure you, I'm a better and happier man after having the resolve to commit to marrying Cherish, to buying a house, to having a baby and, most recently, becoming a stay-at-home dad.
Those were life-changing decisions, which means they were among the biggest resolutions I've made, and that means I didn't start down those paths to do poorly. I resolved to be a good husband, to make a good home and to be a good father.
That takes resolve.
And so I'm looking forward to a new year, as are all of us, and I know I'll make resolutions along the way. Some of them will be silly notions, but others will be the stuff of dreams come true.

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So here it is, my resolution for 2012: I want to seek out and enjoy experiences, new and old, for Cherish, Willow and me, and the rest of my family, to enjoy. Broad, I know, but in my head, it's golden.

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