2011 is here, yeah what else is new?? People gather, make resolutions that about 99.9% will be broke within the first week of January. For myself I stopped making resolutions a long time ago, and I feel better for it. My thinking is that you go through the trouble of making a promise to yourself, that you know that they'll be no way in hell you will ever keep.I wouldn't tolerate that from a friend or family member..so why should I do that to myself? But if you chose to make a resolution then do yourself a favor, aim low..be realistic. I think our self-esteem takes enough of a pounding enough throughout the year, whether we admit it or not..it's still causes pain. I notice we tend to treat our friends and family better then we treat ourselves, we need to take some of that compassion and consideration and use it on ourselves. I'm not saying we should just turn our backs on those we love, but I think for us to be happy we need to realize that to love others we need to love and nurture ourselves. When we treat ourselves crappy we tend to tolerate that sort of behavior from others towards us, and I think as children causes problems that follow us right in to adulthood. I know there are people that are going to question this, or dismiss it as psychobabble horsesh*t..ok I can accept that. It's what happened to me as a child, and I feel fortunate that for the most part I am here and feel better about myself and the way I turned out. Do I have regrets, parts of my life that I'd either like to redo or better yet just eliminate?..of course, I think we all do. But at the end of the day what we have is what we see in the mirror, every moment in time we have lived, every experience..good or bad has brought us to where we are. So I am saying that making promises, or resolutions or whatever word you choose to use isn't healthy for our self-esteem..unless they are realistic or within our reach. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go water my money tree in the back yard..while my SI swimsuit model wife makes me a snack and draws me a bath. Happy 2011!