Happy New Year 2014!

Today begins a new year and for many of us, it is also symbolic of new beginnings. A chance to wipe the slate clean and begin anew. Some of us write down goals, wishes, and aspirations for the new year and others make mental notes or have fleeting thoughts about what they want to accomplish. That would be me.

I have lots of things in my mind that I want to achieve in the new year, but so far I haven’t written any of them down. One of my in-head goals is to be an avid blogger this year. Thus, here I am on January 1 starting a new blog. I have blogged before, but lost momentum because I got in my own way (more of that in future posts). I have been thinking about this for weeks … okay, months really … and have been agonizing over what to call this new blog and what it’s focus would be. As late as yesterday I was sitting at my computer trying out different blog names. Nothing seemed right. None of those fleeting ideas from yesterday were right.

As I lay in bed last night watching Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin host CNN’s coverage of New Year’s Eve in Times Square (and being annoyed that Kathy Griffin would never let Anderson Cooper complete a sentence…), I was shuffling blog titles through my head. Then a cartoon light bulb appeared over my head and there it was – the name I had been straining my brain about.

The Clean Slate Club

Now since I was drifting off to sleep at this point, my greatest challenge was to remember my awesome blog name when I awoke the next day. I repeated it mentally as I fell asleep and thank goodness, I remembered it this morning. I raced to my computer and typed in the words to find out if anyone else already had this blog title. I crossed my fingers as I hit the enter key on my keyboard and looked at the screen anxiously looking for the green check mark to appear telling me the blog name is mine. YES! There is was! My blog is born.

Now, if I haven’t lost you with all those details which you may have found quite boring, let’s talk about the Clean Slate Club (and by the way, thanks for reading!)

Everyone Deserves a Clean Slate

New Year or not, everyone deserves a clean slate when we mess up in our lives or don’t quite accomplish what we set out to do. Everyone. I’m talking about everyday Janes and Joes here. Not mass murderers. Just people getting up every day living their lives. We mess up. We disappoint. We fall down. And I’m just talking about the way we talk to and think about ourselves.

Every day is a clean slate, people. Yesterday is history. Last year is history!  Today is a do-over. Make today better than yesterday. Write down a goal. Work towards it in some small way. Take small steps or take big steps — just move forward. I’ll be here to cheer you on with every step you take. Will you do the same for me?

Peace out for today — your clean slate is waiting. Get going!