Be Better

A new year, a new attempt at being a blogger. Maybe the iPad and the Bluetooth keyboard that I brought on Groupon last week will help me be more consistent. Here's hoping!

This year's resolution: Be Better (I know, lame, right?)

I aim to be a better person in general. Nicer, healthier, more disciplined, you get the drift.

My page-a-day calendar last Monday said, "Don't be yourself. Be someone a little nicer. -Mignon McLaughlin" I don't know this McLaughlin woman, but it seems she knows me. I have not been a nice person lately. I need to be someone nicer.

Be yourself, everyone says. But, you know what? I don't like myself. Not the person I come by naturally. Not the person I am without trying. Not the person I am when left to think of myself first and not consider those around me. George Bernard Shaw once said, "Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." I like this, and I believe it to be true. It frees me from thinking that I am stuck in some box of this-is-just-the-way-I-am. This allows me to dislike myself and choose to be someone different, someone better, the woman I was created to be.

So, I am a work in progress. I'm grateful that I do not face this challenge alone. Yesterday's sermon at church was the intro to a new series about the Holy Spirit and his role in our lives. To sum it up, he's here to help. Jesus came to this earth and basically said, "They're a mess down there! Send them some help!" He may as well have said, "Dana's a mess!" because, quite frankly, I am. I thank God for the Holy Spirit inside of me, my helper.

I have finished my breakfast (pictured below) and now I should probably get to work. I could sit here and write all day. But, it's a little presumptuous of me to think that you would want to read all of my ramblings.