Eight days into the new year and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. It’s easy, when you’re swept up in the frenzy of the holidays, to idealize how things are going to go “after the first of the year,” to imagine the fresh start awaiting you and all you’re going to accomplish.

But whether we resolve to eat less and exercise more or to read more and work less, there are people and tasks vying for our attention and, all of a sudden, it becomes difficult to keep all of the balls up in the air.

“Momentum” is the word I’ve chosen to guide me this year and it has already helped me come to an important realization. When it comes to making changes in my life, it may very well be one or two small choices I make during the course of each day that ultimately make the biggest difference in the long run.

Because choices and behaviors, both good and bad, set their own trajectories, ultimately leading to others just like them.

For me, it is the simple act of turning off the TV that is setting the tone for my year. Besides the time I’ve freed up for worthier pursuits, I find I’m getting to bed earlier which means I get up earlier. An earlier morning means I’m more likely to start my day with exercise and so on.

And, as far as the balls I have up in the air, I’ve gone ahead and thrown up one more. I’ve launched a daily photoblog.

My purpose for this new project is twofold. Because of the sometimes confessional nature of this blog, and the one that preceded it, I’ve chosen to keep my writing a secret from the people in my real life. But photography is becoming more and more of a passion and I want to be able to share it with family and friends. The photoblog allows me to come out of the shadows a bit.

I also welcome the self-imposed pressure. It’s not quite a 365 project as I’m starting out with, and will occasionally return to, my archives but I have no doubt the discipline of daily posts will provide plenty of opportunity for growth and improvement.

I’ll continue to post here but I can already feel my focus shifting. Pop on over when you get the chance.

Wishing you all many positive changes in 2010.

“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.” ~Anais Nin

And so 2009 draws to a close. It has been a challenging year for me as I know it’s been for so many others. But there have been many positive changes in my life these past 12 months and I’m looking forward to building upon them in the new year. My word for 2010 is “momentum.”

Speaking of which, I want to take this opportunity to thank Darlene for December Views. Once again, I’ve found her challenge to blog exclusively, or at least primarily, through images both energizing and inspiring. It’s been a lovely experience and one that’s kept me feeling positive and engaged during a time of year that has often been very difficult for me.

Thanks, too, to everyone who stopped by to visit my blog this month. I’m grateful for the time you’ve spent here and for your kind comments.

Here’s to 2010 and to all the promise that it holds. Happy New Year to all!

She walked nonchalantly into my apartment, and my life, almost 17 years ago, age unknown but certainly well past the kitten phase even then. In the years since, (I was 29 then, after all, and 46 now) an assortment of people, jobs, dwellings, dreams, and even two other cats, have all come and gone. And then there were the staggering losses, the deaths in the family, the lost love, the fallen friends. The only constant through it all, my beloved feline friend, and now she is slipping away, too, right before my eyes.

At a certain point, you say to the woods, to the sea, to the mountains, the world, now I am ready. Now I will stop and be wholly attentive. ~ Annie Dillard