Emerge: 2013

Hello world, welcome to a new year- again.  Which is a good thing for it automatically gives everyone the illusion of tabla rosa- a time to start over, try again, get ready for one more time.  A fresh approach to our old life.  All over resolutions are being made, along with promises, diets, quitting of-habits, cleaning of closets and beginning to exercise.  There will be a predictable slump in the sale of fast food and candy, and a rise in organics, treadmills and gym memberships.  People will start being nicer, try to save money, study harder, invest wisely, limit time for tv/facebook/games and other distractions.  Some of these good intentions will be absorbed back into reality- and some will stick to them doggedly for the whole year, a new religion of rules.  Some people will discover that good intentions are never enough, but then again....sometimes good intentions open doors to new paths, and changes are made.  And that is what we call hope.

For me, I make resolutions every year of one sort or another, and every year they end in a mixture of small changes, failed changes or.... well, truthfully, I don't quite remember what I resolve from year to year (unless I cheat and look- which is one reason that I write- so I can see who I've been and who I've become).  I remake lists yearly- I'm champion at lists- and am working on this one.  I started out with the idea of 13 resolutions for 2013, which is a good enough beginning.  Then I started playing with photoshop, and ended up with the 'Emerge' image, which created my theme for the year- emerging.  This past year I have been so sleepy, distracted, depressed, encased, that I identify with the Caterpillar, who creates a case to keep the world away.  To muffle everything on the outside, and who slips into the despair of dreams while it goes about the very hard business of transformation.  And then, without choice, it must emerge or give up and remain a cocoon.  I have decided to emerge.

Emerging is not easy, and there will be times that I want to retreat back into my cocoon.  Emerging is hard work, especially when you are not quite sure what you are going to turn out to be on the other side- (everyone hopes for butterfly, or at least a moth, but you might turn out to be a beetle, or ant or even a flea.  They all have their place, though I should hate to be a flea).  Ok, so I've made my mind up- and now, what to do but begin?  And so I will, and so the new year commences.