Get on with it!

published January 6, 2011

in the Stockton Sentinel,

Stockton, Kansas

            Okay, so the new year has arrived, the revelry has passed, and the confetti has been vacuumed up or swept away. Have you already broken your New Year’s Resolutions? I know many people don’t bother making resolutions because they know they will not stick with them anyway. Even Dr. Phil doesn’t believe in the value of making New Year’s Resolutions.

Usually I agree with Dr. Phil’s philosophies, but this is one I don’t agree with because, yes, I do make resolutions, and I believe resolutions are helpful. But my resolutions are personal, and I won’t tell anyone what they are. That way, when I don’t stick with them, no one knows.

            Sometimes all it takes to stick your neck out and push yourself into something new is the right inspiration. By now you know that I am a collector of inspirational quotes. I ran across this one the other week and decided it is a keeper:  “You owe it to us all to get on with what you’re good at.” (W.H. Auden) That, in itself, is a New Year’s Resolution, and it’s one I will share and offer to you as a challenge.

            Everyone has things they are good at, those nagging little ambitions that you would like to accomplish. Everyone has talents of one sort or another. But too often, we don’t want anyone to know what we might be capable of doing because then we may be held accountable to get on with it and do it. Now is as good a time as any to crawl out of your shell and let your little light shine. Stick your neck out and take a chance that what you have to offer is really of worth – great or small.

            Actually, you don’t “owe it to us all” as much as you owe it to yourself to get on with what you’re good at. Don’t go through life with unspent ambitions and talents. Remember the little song: “Hide it under a bushel? NO! I’m gonna let it shine.” Now is the time to get on with it. If not now, when? How long will you keep us waiting?