The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and . . . go out to meet it. ~ Thucydides

What is your plan for making this a rainbow year?

I’ve never made a New Year’s resolution. Ever.

Not just because I saw people didn’t keep them, but they always declared their plans in negative terms.

Like “I will lose 20 pounds by the summer.” Or “I will stop smoking.”

Does fixating on things to not do anymore ~ like eating~ inspire you to act?

Fixating on how energetic you feel after a good workout or how easy it will be to slide in and out of your clothes (again) are possibly better motivators for change in your eating or exercising habits.

The destination of a goal ~ where I’m going and what I’ll get out of it  ~ is what excites me. The rainbow and the pot of gold at the end of it.

That’s why, as crazy as it seems, I’ve decided to enter the Annual Bataan Memorial Death March. The trek through White Sands Missile Range commemorates the service of the thousands of men who endured torture by the enemy on a forced march through the Philippine jungle in 1942.

My participating seems “crazy” because . . .

This is a LONG hike through rugged, hot, dry, hilly terrain. And although I love to walk, I don’t hike or run. Completing the half course of 14.2 miles will be enough of an effort for me, the full 26.2 mile course is not even on my radar . . . I go a mile and half, two miles tops, on the elliptical once or twice a week.

So, yes, I’m gonna have to step up my exercise routine.

Because a recent newspaper article reminded me: “It will be one of the last times you have to shake the hands of men who actually endured the Death March.”

And ever since something has been sitting on my shoulder, won’t turn me loose.

The perseverance of these men, their grit, stuns me. I want to meet them. It’s a case of now or possibly never.

What else am I looking forward to in the coming year? Take a look at the entire list:

12 Things to Do in New Mexico and Beyond

(As I experience each of the following events and write about them, I’ll link to the article. In so doing, I mean to inspire you to create and get after goals of your own.)

Seeing a live coyote. (I’ve already seen too many dead ones.)
Sampling a Saenz gordita.
Viewing the century-old ruins at Dripping Springs.
Eating rugelach in Tel Aviv (and I don’t mean the Tel Aviv Kosher Bakery in Chicago, although I hear it’s pretty good).

Learning to make the stew called pozole.
Dining at the Curious Kumquat restaurant in Silver City.
Attending a chocolate show.
Stargazing through an observatory telescope.
Experiencing a superior green chile cheeseburger in Hatch.
Preparing yucca to eat. (That’s right ~ parts of the NM state plant is edible and our yard is full of them. And who doesn’t like to save on groceries?

Savoring ribeye at the Cattleman’s Steakhouse at Indian Cliffs Ranch,

and the one you already know about,

Saluting the remaining survivors of the “New Mexico Brigade.”

What is your now or possibly never?

To think on and journal . . . the story you want to be living this time next year. Now backtrack… what steps will get you there?

Leave a comment ~ I enjoy hearing from you!