How Will You Move Through the World This Year? Really?

My three-year old son gets more homework in preschool than I ever received in four years of public high school. The back of my car is filled with paper mache creations, curriculum updates, parent surveys, volunteer packets and art work I’ve regretfully confused as birds when they were actually planes resulting in a tantrum of massive proportions by the misunderstood artist in his car seat. This week, however, the lesson plan gave me some interesting food for thought. The children were asked to choose “one word that best describes how they will move through the world in 2011.” The responses were varied, vibrant and filled with vigor. Some children chose to dance, others chose to hop, walk, run, slide, and in the case of my plane making Picasso he chose to march (specifying he would do so in a marching band). This one word lesson plan left me wondering how I would move through the world this year. For a so-called fire sign I am filled with passion, but the flames simmer when it comes to confrontation. I’ll often be far more concerned with the feelings of others than the well being of my own and this temperament creates a scenario where you end up merely surviving instead of truly striving. There is much more in life then simply making it through, so this year I’m choosing to stomp through the world. Not an angry stomp or a militant stomp or a throwback to Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation stomp, but a steady one foot and then another and then another stomp toward my dreams come true. I’m endeavoring to seek the desires of my heart with the same visionary verve a classroom of preschoolers possess on a daily basis. That also means my neighbor in the condo complex that keeps parking over the lines in the stall will finally get a well written note today because amidst the things I call my own are the right to park my car without crashing into a poll. So how will you move through the world this year? Do tell? Sincerely, Really???