what's your resolution?

Wow, this is it- 2008 is drawing to a close. It's been an amazing year, filled with positives and negatives. Stock market crashes, wars, natural disasters; these all take the wind out of your sails. Unfortunately it takes the wind out of sales too, jewelry sales (like every other business) are down, and it is hard to predict when things will improve. We have a new president, and hope that things will settle down and the recession makes a quick exit and the economic climate starts to improve.

But, hey, we can't change the world all by ourselves. Maybe this is a time that the best thing you could do is to try and improve your own situation, and hope that if everyone did the same the world would be a better place. Maybe that's where resolutions come in. New Year's eve is a perfect day to reflect on the changes we want (or need) to make and resolve to follow through on those changes as 2009 comes at us.

This is a very old tradition, it is said that New Year's Resolutions began back as far as 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar, as he had two faces, and could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.

I've looked around, and found a few lists of "top resolutions" we all make. Some are no surprise- our top resolution is to spend more time with family and friends. We all want to be healthier, the top resolutions include lose weight, quit smoking, be physically fit, and quit drinking. After that, we want better finances- getting out of debt and finding a better job are resolutions millions of americans will make.

With all of these, it is good to see that there were some optimistic resolutions that made the top 10 list. We want to help others, enjoy life more, and learn something new. I've never spent a lot of time making resolutions, it seems an easy way to depress yourself if you do not become thin, rich or famous in the coming year. But I have a permanent resolution concerning the last few- I always try to take some time to just enjoy life, and always try to help others. I had some great experiences with the step-up women's network this past year, and have always been a volunteer for a good cause- it is very rewarding.

So take a moment to do what the Romans did, look at the year past and get an idea of what you'd like to do for the coming year, and try to do it. And then, take some time to relax- we made it out of a very crazy year. Plan to do something or be with someone to ring in the new year and start 2009 in style. Check out the celebrations where you live, or just watch our New York City celebration on TV. Don't pay too much attention to the ball though, it is Waterford, not Swarovski crystal !! I wish all my family and friends the best, may we all have a happy new year. Ciao and Buon Capodanno !