Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

New Year’s Resolutions are a mixture of many things for me.

Entering Jan. 1 to start a New Year, I always set goals for things I want and things I need.  I never reveal them to anyone for fear of failure and embarrassment. Usually by late spring, the ambitions and desires to meet those expectations are over.

To me, resolutions are like following your favorite college or professional team. I have such high hopes for my team. When they fail to win a national or world championship, I feel deflated like a balloon losing air.

Over the years, I noticed a trend about myself. When I push hard for something, it does not happen quickly. Whenever I ignore something that I was pursuing, the results I desired come through.

The same goes for when I am searching for something lost.The item never materializes when I want it . But when I am not looking for the item, it appears.

Since I’ve turned 40 years old, I reflect on the years that I have lived and about resolutions made and broken. Especially when I see people my age that I grew up with who were either friends or colleagues. 

Some were more successful, while others did not make it. I was never jealous of their successes or opportunities.  Early in my journalistic career, my contemporaries had a strong support base. I did not. That’s a big difference,

I call it the “Steve Young Syndrome.”  I was a big fan of Young when he played quarterback at Brigham Young University back in the 1980’s.  He was the original dual-threat signal-caller in today’s high school, college and NFL. Young looked like a lame-duck with the hapless Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I still believed in Young and everyone laughed. 

When the San Francisco 49ers traded for Young, no one was happier than me. Yes, the 49ers are my favorite team. Young eventually became a Super Bowl champion and Pro Football Hall of Famer. Going from a losing team to a winning one helps. And I got the last laugh. 

The Selma Times-Journal allows me to seize opportunities that eluded me in the past, specifically with resolutions and a potential lifelong relationship.

By Sunday, another New Year’s Eve will have come and gone. Every time the ball drops, I feel I am running out of time, and time is what I value most.