Resolutions resolved

It's been quite a while since my last blog entry.  If you're reading this post, however, you probably already know me either through Facebook or Twitter, so you're well aware that even though I may not have had the time to document the remainder of my 2012 in long-form blogging I've been busy sharing my transition from Harvard to Yale - not to mention all of the other life changes along the way, like losing weight:

Nevertheless it was always my intention to end the year with some kind of reflection about how my resolution to Make It Happen turned out.  In the past I've always sucked at New Year's resolutions, and I think I finally understand why:  they've either been too specific and/or numerous, so that they ended up seeming like a giant "To-Do" list which I would inevitably resent and never get around to completing.  By opting for a thematic resolution this time around, I was able to avoid this trap.  Rather than worry about specific goals, I changed my attitude towards change instead and the details fell into place as a result.

There's more to it, of course, but as I'll be making a presentation on this very topic at the upcoming ALA Midwinter Meeting I'm going to wait until I've finished gathering all of my thoughts on the topic before I share them, though I do promise to share it here as well.  In the meantime, as December drew to a close I wondered what my next year's resolution should be.  Since a theme seemed to work so dramatically over the past year, I decided to adopt another thematic resolution this time around for 2013:

Keep Moving Forward.

If you're a Disneyphile such as yours truly, you'll immediately recognize the source of this phrase: Walt Disney himself, who wasn't just an entertainer, but a passionate futurist. At the end of the 2007 animated movie Meet The Robinsons, Walt is quoted as having said the following:

Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

Whether this is an apocryphal quote or not, I've always found it to be fairly inspirational stuff, but now that I've gone and successfully changed All The Things in my life this phrase feels even more appropriate.

(Okay, after having just returned from spending the holidays in Disney World I may still be a wee bit under the influence of pixie dust, as well!).

Changing my life was necessary, and I'm glad that I found the courage and motivation to do so, but how do I sustain this type of radical change?  As happy as I am right now with what I've accomplished, I want to ensure that the past year of transformation was not the exception but the new normal for 2013 and beyond. So I'm going to Keep Moving Forward.  Here's to the future!  I look forward to sharing my progress here and elsewhere, and hope that resolutions or no resolutions, your new year is more awesome than the previous one.