The other night, as I was sitting in bed reading,
something caught my attention.
It stirred emotion deep within me, bringing back special memories.
It was merely a sound, one I have heard thousands of times.
The sound was simply the quiet rustle of the page as
I turned it to read on.

I had been reading almost 20 minutes when this sound aroused my senses. I’m still not sure what it was about this particular turn of the page that interrupted my focus and turned my attention to the book itself. For a brief moment, I relished the book I was holding in my hands, and without another thought, continued reading.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
—1 Corinthians 13:13

The Bible states very clearly what love is and what love isn’t. If you ever get confused, simply refer to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Regardless of your religion, spiritual journey, or lack of belief, we can all agree that the Bible’s comprehensive definition of love is spot on.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

One of the funniest and most ironic scenes in the movie We are the Millers is when Scotty P. Scotty, a typical, traveling carnival ruffian, shows off his tattoo that covers his chest from shoulder to shoulder. The tattoo, in large, old-English lettering, simply reads: No Ragrets, which is not a typo here, but a permanent typo on confident Scotty P. Scotty’s chest…ya’ know what I’m sayin’? The great thing about Scotty P. is he doesn’t have one ragret, not even a single letter.

Regret is sorrow aroused by circumstances beyond one’s control or power to repair. (Merriam-Webster) It’s an oppressive, dismal task to carry regret and the heaviness that comes with it. It hurts your heart and burdens your soul.

“You don’t need a New Year or a new day to start fresh, you only need a new mindset.”

For me, 2023 was a difficult year. Probably more than 75 percent of my days were filled with stress and just felt heavy. Finding joy became an arduous task, mainly because my stress was bullying me. However, almost 100 percent of the time, I got up, I got out, and I did what had to be done. Some of those days I soared, which felt incredible. As I look back over the year as a whole, though, it wore me out.

I refuse to allow this year to follow suit. Bad years need to step aside because I’m putting measures in place, that no matter what, I’m going to make my well-being—both physically and mentally—a priority, and that includes not only finding joy, but living joyously!

 Forget about all of your New Year’s resolutions right now
unless you are one of the few who will actually stick to them.
There is only one resolution that if you can conquer it, you can achieve anything:
Stop procrastinating! That’s right. Procrastination is the one thing.

Although quite complicated and difficult to overcome, procrastination is holding you back from achieving your immediate goals and future dreams. Procrastination is a big, long word meaning to put something off until you are pretty sure you can no longer do it, remember it, or recall why it was important to you. Basically P-R-O-C-R-A-S-T-I-N-A-T-I-O-N spells failure. It does not mean you are a pro at crastinating, so don’t euphemize it, like today’s society tends to do.