New year, new notebook

New Year’s Day always reminds me of the pleasure and anticipation of starting a brand-new reporter notebook: Crisp pages that are full of promise, standing ready to receive all sorts of notes, scribbles and ideas.

But right around January 6, I start feeling like my new notebook has been spending a lot of time at the bottom of my purse: A creased cover, pages that are beginning to curl, a splotch of spilled lip gloss staining the corner.

I have spent some time reading blog posts and articles designed to provide motivation and perspective as we begin the New Year. They’re well intended, and several of them have had some good thoughts, but you have to admit - relying on “5 Ways to Decrease Stress” or “10 Ways to Love Yourself” or “25 Tips to Help Lose Weight for Good in the New Year” has the potential to disappoint.

We start fresh, but life is messy. We can follow all sorts of advice to the letter and nothing is going to change that. Pounds creep on. Friends and family disappoint us. People get sick. We screw stuff up. We leave what needs to be done undone (and I’m not talking about laundry and the dishes). We set standards that are impossible to achieve. We judge rather than forgive and embrace.

This year, I’ll gain and lose at least five pounds. I’ll forget to write thank you notes, to call my mom, to follow up with a colleague. I’ll mess up. I’ll yell at my husband and my kids. I’ll say and do stuff that’s embarrassing. Instead of reading about current events and working to make the world a better place, I’ll read a People magazine while standing in the check-out line at Walmart and watch “Say Yes to the Dress” on Netflix.

But I’ll also try to do my best. I’ll draw inspiration from the many people in my life who do amazing things. I’ll try to make people laugh or smile. I’ll try to make people feel important and loved. I’ll celebrate victories and try to support disappointments. I’ll accept help. I’ll try to show the ways to hope. I’ll try to live generously. I’ll work to try to inspire others to do the same.

Life has a way of not allowing us to remain crisp, clean and blotch-free for very long. And really, if we’re trying to achieve that, we’re missing the point.

A new year gives us a new notebook. It won't stay perfect. But let's work to fill it in the best ways we can.