Auld Lang Syne

I know it is almost the end of January, but I still had to post this :)

With the pop of the champagne cork and the chanting of the last few seconds of 2012, I knew the first few notes of the classic "Auld Lang Syne" would be next.  Every year, like clock work, this song is played and with it comes a feeling of remembrance.  It was this year in particular that I actually stopped to think about the opening lines:
                       " Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?
                          Should old acquaintance be forgot, and old lang syne?"

It's an interesting question.  Should we forget old friends and acquaintances and the "old" times we shared with them?  Most would say, of course not.  We should embrace all the people we consider friends and think of them fondly.  I, for one, find myself doing that a lot lately; thinking of friends who have slipped through the perverbial cracks of time, and have looked at the friendships I do have and question why I'm friends with them.  For many I fondly reminisce thinking of days gone by and feel blessed to have been apart of their lives.  For some I have realized I truly miss their company and have made the effort to rekindle the spark of friendship.  And for a select few I have decided to let the ties of friendship unravel, so to speak.  This sounds harsh and mean, but it goes along with my New Years resolution this year: DETOXIFY. 

A friend got me on to this "one word" resolution idea.  Instead of the usual insurmountable list I usually do, I am to choose one word to sum up my goal for the year.  So in the past few weeks I have struggled to find one word to focus my goal, which can encompass all aspects of my life. And it came to me when I came across an article about toxic emotions and toxic people, and how they can ruin your drive, focus and self worth.  So I decided to make detoxify my word, and here is what I plan to do:

1. Limit the amount of junk food and wine I consume.  To say to eliminate it all together would be a ridiculous notion as I know I couldn't do it, and who doesn't love to indulge in some vino and popcorn? Instead, I hope to increase exercise that I enjoy, fresh food and lots of water.

2. Avoid toxic friends and cut my "fremenies" out of my life.  These are the people who say they are your friend, but behind your back will judge you, and cut you down.  I have identified a few people like that in my life that I have accumulated over the years, and now I'm ready to detoxify my friendships.  I want to focus my energies on people who make me feel good about myself and who are willing to have a balanced friendship of "give' and "take".  So many times in our lives we find ourselves striving to be accepted by someone and included in a certain person's life that we lose ourselves catering to their needs and not acknowledging and honouring our own.  I am guilty of that.  I would invest so much time and energy trying to be a part of a person's life I thought I was close to, only to find out that they didn't feel the same way and really didn't want to put the effort in to our friendship.  As a result my feelings got hurt and I lost focus on my true friendships.

So I plan to make dates with my girlfriends and focus my energy their direction, but not to the point where I'm doing all the work.  As I said before "give and take".

3. Stop the toxic self-talk.  I know I spend a lot of time berating myself for not keeping to a certain standard I have set myself.  And too many times I have worked myself into a tizzy over not completing my "to-do" list or felt guilty for just watching a movie on a Sunday afternoon, instead of organizing the office.  Or I'm worried about not having the perfect body, instead of a healthy body.  I know this is all so silly, and even writing about it makes me chuckle, but it is true.  I can be mean to myself.

So I plan to focus on positive thoughts about myself and give myself a break every once in awhile.

There you have it, my detoxify plan.  How are you going to change yourself for the better in 2013.