Happy New Year’s Day everyone! I’m sure some people have already set resolutions for themselves to begin today, as many consistently seem to do so at the beginning of a new year. While I’ve never had much success in keeping to any of those in the past, I do believe in setting goals for myself instead, and for 2018, I have three.
The first is to seek the will of God. I know that probably sounds quite religious, but to me it’s nothing of the sort. I simply just want to follow on a Higher Path with less Andrew and more God. As whenever my life has been more about Andrew’s will and less about God’s will, the results were usually about as successful as keeping to a New Year’s resolution I set for myself.
The second is to remain clean and sober from all my former addictions. Obviously, I could never achieve my first goal of following God’s will if I’m living in an addiction-laden life. Thus, sponsoring others, getting to 12 Step meetings, and continuing to share my experience, strength, and hope in recovery will help me stay aligned with this goal.
And the third is to be unconditionally loving to everyone, like Christ was, even to those who may show dislike, disdain, or any other unfavorable thing in return. This goal is definitely the hardest for me, especially because I’ve had a lot of negative attacks aimed at me as of late. Yet, I’ve learned from mistakes in the past that when I’ve withheld unconditional love, even to those who my ego felt didn’t deserve it, I’ve tended to seek an addiction to deal with the guilt I felt over it.
Thus, as you can see, each of my goals for 2018 are connected to each other, but, none hold the same context as a New Year’s resolution, which always seems to hold far more connotations of needing perfection to maintain them. While I know I’m not perfect and will probably fail at times in keeping to the goals I’ve set for myself in 2018, I am still going to strive for perfection to achieve them. Because in the end, striving for perfection with a goal is a lot easier than needing perfection with a New Year’s resolution.
Oh, and one more thing. I do have other goals as well, like becoming far healthier in mind and body, being able to work at least a part-time job, taking a vacation and a few more, but as far as I’m concerned, they all will fall into place so long as I keep focused on achieving my main three…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson