What could you do differently?
Oh, boy…there are so many things. And, what a time to be asking such a question, only a week into a new year? These mile markers in time – new years, birthdays, equinoxes, etc. – all herald the opportunity for change, for a new approach to moving forward.
For the last few days, as the winter break has been fading away, I’ve been trying to think about the things that I want to accomplish in 2024. All of them require something to be different. A change must take place for anything new to be had. There’s no way around it.
Simply put, it all amounts to me wanting to be better than I am. Progress. The list itself is just what I’m identifying as my criteria for success. If I get x done then I’ll be that much better. If y also gets done, I’ll be even better. Z is going to be a little harder to do but it’ll make me a little better, too.
I’m not convinced that getting everything done will lead to a fundamental change. What will be different, of course, is that I’ll have done a few things, and crossed some things off of my to-do list. The change is superficial. Fundamentally, I haven’t done anything differently, have I? I’ll just have done what I knew how to do to achieve something I knew I wanted.
Maybe this is how change begins, with the things we already know how to do. Believing in oneself and one’s ability to do something differently toward something one hasn’t ever achieved, that’s certainly something I could be doing differently. It’s the finding comfort in being uncomfortable, the self-confidence in one’s ability to fail well, and the self-assurance that one is successful in the attempt that leads to real change.
I would love for our cats to have a catio, too. Of course, I want to build it and make one of those hamster wheels for cats.