How are those New Year's resolutions working out for you? Have you given up on them yet? The odds are you've already quit. And if you haven't, you will. Almost everybody does. Sad, huh?

Maybe. Maybe not.

There's good news and bad news. Let's start with the bad news. You won't do anything you don't want to do. Well, actually that can be good news if you think about it in more positive ways than most people do. Because...it means you can do what you want to do. It doesn't mean you can do it well. You may not have the talent to pull it off. But you can still give it a go. The thought of an unprofitable outcome might help you change your mind and decide to give up on it. Like me playing the guitar for the past 40 plus years. Mostly I've been in love with the idea of being able to play. I've been far less in love with actually putting in the work. So it's pretty clear I made up my mind. Learning to play the guitar has never been important enough to me - important enough that I wanted to put in the work to learn.

Freedom. We all have it.

Our freedom may be impacted by our circumstances, but only to the degree we allow it. We convince ourselves of things. Real and imagined things. You know the circumstance that has always ruined my desire to learn the guitar? Not being able to play anything well for a long time. I'm not foiled by the knowledge that I'll never play music for money, or be recognized as a great guitarist. Those were never goals or dreams. The new times I've sat down to try to begin learning, the task seemed so daunting that I convinced myself it'll be years before you can play anything enjoyable. I've never been able to mentally or emotionally move past the truth that I just don't enjoy the process. And even though not all processes are enjoyable, we pursue the processes that take us toward something we really want. Seems my truth is, I really don't want to learn the guitar. Else, I'd be learning. My truth? I really enjoy listening to and watching great guitarists play music. That's where I get pleasure. The result? I listen to a lot of music. I love it and I willingly invest the time to listen to a lot of music every single day. I can easily prioritize my music listening in lieu of other activities like watching TV or reading a novel or any other thing.

The good news is you can do what you want to do. The hard part may be figuring that out.

The other bad news is that you can't decide or choose for anybody except yourself. Deciding for yourself is challenging enough, but sadly we frequently spend more time hoping to change somebody else. Meanwhile, our own growth and improvement go unattended. We're busy trying to drive somebody else's car. Growing increasingly frustrated when it doesn't work. They don't do what we want. All the while, losing more and more of ourselves. Sometimes our life goes into the ditch because we're not taking the wheel of our own life. Maybe it's time to change that.

So now what you gonna do?

It happened. Something you never saw coming. Something you knew was coming. Something bad. Maybe horrible.

Life knocked you down and dragged you out back, beating you until you were so hurt you couldn't get back to your feet. Not right away.

I don't know what it is that attacked you. It could be one of a million things. Sickness. Death. Broken relationships. Money (or lack thereof). Job. Faith.

There is no area of our life immune from a crisis. 

Before you can dive too deeply into answering today's question there's another - even more personal question to answer.

Who are you gonna do it for?

I hope there is somebody.

Think about them. Right now. Keep thinking about them. Embrace whatever feelings sweep over you. Spend a lot of time pondering the person - or the people. Why do they matter so much? What do they do for you? What do you do for them? Is your relationship with them growing? How is each of you bringing value for each other?