But first a little back story

Alright before I get into my resolutions and how I'm trying to live them out, here's a little back story.

It started back this fall. I play on a men's rugby club, and up to this point I've always been pretty "ok". I went to practice. I played as hard as hard as I could. I'm just not that good. Over the last few years I kinda ended up falling into the role of team smart ass. A role I was good at. I was always the first with a smart comment. I was the one usually talking trash on the sidelines. I would have made a great scrum half (That's rugby humor. I don't feel like explaining it.)

Rugby just wasn't a priority to me. I liked it and I tried hard, but for whatever reason (probably because I'm just not that good) I didn't commit to it.

At some point a midway through the season. I got the opportunity to change that. It was a home game and a girl who I had a huge crush on was going to be there. She ended up coming right as the game started. Now the pressure was on. I had someone to impress. I ended up playing my ass off. It's like I found another gear that I didn't know was there. I ended up playing one of the best games of my life. We won and it was amazing. For once I felt like I could actually take some of the responsibility for that victory.

Now that girl is my girlfriend, (probably in no small part to how I look in rugby shorts) and I walked away from that game thinking what if I played that way all the time? What if I really committed to this team for the rest of the semester? So I did. I broke my nose the next week at practice, but I kept at it. After the last game of the semester the coach told me, "Great leadership out there." It was one of the best compliments I've ever gotten.

For some reason this attitude of asking myself "What would happen if I gave myself to this (insert something important here)?" began to touch on other areas. I started doing better in school, and I finished the semester with some of the best grades I've ever earned. I got a new job that's laying the ground work for a rewarding career. All because I asked myself, "What if I really dug in here? Where could this take me?"

I read somewhere that you spend the first quarter of your life learning how to duck responsibility. I'm really good at that. But now I'm starting to see what great things could happen if I do the opposite and start to take responsibility for my life.

And here I'm at the beginning of a new year and I want to keep that momentum going. And that's where these resolutions come from. I hope you can hang out for the journey. It's looking to be a good one.

Peace