Somewhere around 40 percent of Americans make one or more New Year’s Resolutions each year with the best of intentions. But once our hangover passes, we, more often than not, forget our pledges. One month into the new year only 60 percent of us are still making good on those promises.
I usually make and keep four or five resolutions each year. It may seem a little excessive, but I am always careful to make my resolutions focused and attainable. For example:
In 2008, I resolved to see an American Crocodile in the wild before the end of the year. I live in Florida, so I’m already a head of the game. With a little effort I was able to take a trip to Flamingo, Fla. located in Everglades National Park where a known pair of crocodile hangout at the boat ramp on a regular basis. Done - checked off the list! I was also able to get a great kayaking trip in with my friends, so it turned out to be a rewarding experience. In “generic” New Year’s Resolution terms, I tried something new.
Welcome 2012 and a new list of goals for me to try and accomplish! Forgive me, resolutions, because I may have set myself up to fail. “Starting and maintaining a blog for one year” is way more involved than planning a weekend kayaking trip. Still, I want to challenge myself this year with documenting my adventures in Florida. My writing skills could also use some attention. I work in public relations, but much of my time is spent on the creative end with design, layout and event planning. It’s time to give my keyboard some exercise and a blog seems to be the perfect place to practice.
The Straits of Florida blog will be a collection of tales from my adventures in 2012. I promise to hit some of the traditional Florida things – spring training, beaches, citrus fruit, seafood, etc. There will also be kayaking trips, wiener dog races, swamp buggies and weekends with Volkswagens (I’m just being honest). Florida is a really interesting place to live. The diversity here is amazing and I will put my Weird Florida book to good use this year.
If nothing else, I’ll will get into the groove of writing again, hone my skills, build my vocabulary and even, perhaps, entertain my family that lives in the cold north of Michigan.
So here we go…
