Sands of time

Besides being one of my favorite games for Xbox (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. If you haven't played it, you should), time really does pass by as if it were slipping through an hourglass. To me, each grain of sand falling to the bottom represents an opportunity. The opportunity will pass one way or another, no matter what I do, but the difference is whether or not I appreciate and take advantage of it as it is passing.

The New Year represents a time when people flip over their hourglasses and try to find ways to recapture the missed opportunities. Of course there are some that can never be recaptured, so I guess some of the grains just kind of disappear each time the hourglass is flipped, and new ones appear. Then there are the ones that are always the same, such as the "lose weight" grain, or the "read my scriptures every day" grain.

I'm going to take advantage of the "don't miss any good opportunities" grain this year. Goals are an important thing to be restructuring and creating at all times during the year, but annual goals are an important way to keep your mind on the big picture. They're what the monthly and weekly and daily goals lead to. The daily goal can be to walk a mile every day, but the purpose is to lead you to the goal to lose 20 pounds this year. (These are my dad's goals, not mine. I need to gain weight this year I think...)

I made a list of things I want to learn (both big and small) and things I want to do/accomplish (bot big and small), as well as things about myself I want to change. Then I need to go through and make specific goals to accomplish each one. Otherwise it won't get done, and I'll watch more grains pass by without appreciating them. It's funny how my goal to seize opportunities helps me set and accomplish my other goals.

Just for fun, here's a list of some of the small things I want to learn/do this year:

- Learn how to do one of those loud whistles
- Learn how to juggle
- Learn how to type the real way
- Learn about investing
- Learn some more about cooking
- Go on a date a week
- Either go on a hot air balloon ride, or go skydiving
- Climb mount Timp
- Make a real study journal for scripture study

I like the beginning of the new year. It feels like there's something clean about it. Not quite like starting over, like baptism, but there's definitely something "new" about the new year. Somehow, it makes sense to me why Lucy in A Charlie Brown Christmas won't eat December snowflakes, but waits for January snowflakes. I can't explain it, it just seems right.

Happy January 2009! Don't let any important grains of sand pass you by this year.