Re-Thinking New Year's Resolutions

I know, I know, we're more than halfway through January and I'm just getting around to posting my New Year's resolutions? It isn't that I haven't been thinking about them, actually I've given them a lot of thought and gone through more than a few revisions.

At first I thought of writing a laundry list of specific goals: lose 30 lbs., write another book, make new friends, post more often on my blog, get a job, etc., etc. But as I was unpacking all the boxes around here, I came across some vision boards I'd made over the course of the past few years. Not surprisingly, their predominant theme was my dream finding my own place in the mountains.  And then it hit me: now that I have accomplished that dream, which has occupied so much of my time and energy, what's next?

When I left my job on Wall Street in 1994, my goals were two-fold: to find a place in the mountains and to find a career that I loved. It's taken a long time, but I've finally completed the first goal. The second goal still remains elusive, although I've tried a few new careers and made strides in creating one that I love, namely, writing.

While the laundry list of goals I proposed at the start of this post are all valid and will be things I will work on this year, I also realize that I need to give further thought to where I am now and where I want to go next. As to that as yet un-fulfilled goal of creating a career that I am passionate about, I have to ask myself why it's taken me so long to achieve it? Is it unrealistic, do I simply lack the talent to achieve my dreams? Should I settle for something else? Have I now been bold enough, diligent enough? Have I been going in the wrong direction all along?

So that's my new, New Year's resolution...to figure out what's next.