Contributed by Deb Kline.
The first month of the year finds many of us setting goals and making plans for what we hope to personally achieve or accomplish in the coming year. The goal of these exercises is to somehow make life better for ourselves. January seems a likely month to start anew, especially after we’ve tipped the scales of excess over the previous two to three months.
Psychologically, 1/1/2020 seems to hold so much promise. Not only a new year, but a new decade, and why not put a stake in the ground?
There’s another date ahead that holds a lot of promise: 11/3/2020. That’s when millions of voters head to the polls and determine the direction of our country for the next four years. While it may seem that 11 months is a long way away, it’s now that we need to make our resolve, our commitment to do all we can to create the outcome we want to see.
John Norcross, a psychology professor at the University of Scranton who has studied resolutions for decades, says there’s a key ingredient that makes the difference in whether a person adheres or achieves his or her New Year’s resolutions. That is to first and foremost, believe that you can do it. In addition, being clear on what it is you want to achieve, eg. specificity, can move the needle farther in the direction of a positive outcome. Two other ingredients for success include going public with your intention and being around supportive people.
At our December Holiday Gathering, many of the attendees wrote on the Resolution 2020 banner what they intend to do this year to get our country on the right track. There are some great commitments, ranging from canvassing, to hosting a Meet and Greet, to texting voters and hosting postcard parties and lots more. (Yes, we have your names, too). If you didn’t get the opportunity to write on the banner, come to our Community Gathering – we have plenty of room!
If we want to save this country, all of us need to resolve right now to do whatever it takes to ensure that November 4 brings us the outcome which we have longed for since January 2017. We believe we can reclaim and rebuild our country based on the values of equality, honesty, integrity, caring and stewardship. It’s time we put this stake in the ground now: “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
From my point of view, getting this president, his administration, and a number of the GOP supporters out of the way would certainly make my life better.