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Catoctin kids

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by Anita DiGregory

“New Year, New Beginnings”

January 2019. New year. New beginnings. A blank canvas. A clean slate. A do-over. Perhaps country singer Brad Paisley said it best in referring to New Year’s Day:  “Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.”

If you have made a New Year’s resolution, you aren’t alone. A poll conducted December 8-11, 2017, by YouGov.com found that out of 1,159 U.S. adults, only 32 percent said they would not be making a resolution for 2018. The top resolutions for the year included eating healthier, getting more exercise, and saving more money.  These were followed by focusing on self-care, reading more, making new friends, and learning a skill.

However, studies consistently show that up to 80 percent of resolutions fail. In fact, Strava, the social network for athletes, conducted research and found that motivation generally fails the second Friday in January, renaming the day as “Quitters’ Day.”  According to a six-month study recorded in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, more than one in three resolution makers will give up by January 31.

There are many scientific theories out there as to why so many resolutions are abandoned.  These include, but aren’t limited to, making too many resolutions, setting unrealistic goals, making commitments based on other’s expectations, or not having the proper mindset or motivation. 

Although many resolutions go unmet, the positive effects of making a resolution are undeniable.  According to many mental health professionals, resolution makers are often successful in evaluating areas of their lives in which they see the need for change. Additionally, resolutions often center on healthier lifestyle choices.

So how can we make more successful resolutions? Here is some advice from the experts. Reflect on what is important to you, where you are in life, and where you would like to grow. Choose one specific, attainable goal. Realize that it is not so much about keeping a New Year’s resolution, as it is about meeting small, important goals throughout the year. Accept that you will stumble, but don’t allow that to cause you to lose your motivation.  Assess the reasons for the stumble and make necessary changes to keep them from reoccurring. Stay accountable; use a journal. Utilize the “buddy system” by enlisting a friend to keep you on track while you help them. Celebrate small victories.

Here are some family-friendly ideas for mom resolutions; pick one to work on or devise another that suits you and the needs of your family. Smile more. Pray more.  Practice patience. Stop comparing.  Use your phone less. Work on organization. Practice gratitude.  Regularly take the kids and perform a service for someone in need. Slow down. Get stronger. Make healthier choices. Spend more quality time together.

Here are nineteen quotes to inspire you to become the best version of yourself in 2019.

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”

                —Edith Lovejoy Pierce

“One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things.”

            —John Burroughs

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” 

                —Theodore Roosevelt

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.”

                —Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.”

                —Tony Robbins

“The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.”

                —G.K. Chesterton

“I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the years.” 

                —Henry Moore

“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.”

                —Louisa May Alcott

“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.”

                —Benjamin Franklin

“Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.” 

                —Cavett Robert

“Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.”

                —Helen Keller

“Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.”

                —Muhammad Ali

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

                —C.S. Lewis

“What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year.”

                —Vern McLellan

“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, “It will be happier.”    

                —Alfred Lord Tennyson

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.”

                —T.S. Eliot

“I really think a champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall.” 

                —Serena Williams

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”

                —Plato

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”

                —Winston Churchill

Catoctin Banner Resolution Update: Rachel Mohler

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The view out of Rachel Mohler’s kitchen window is so picturesque that it should be a painting—in fact, it is a painting. Or, should we say, it is many paintings. Rachel has painted that ever-changing view nearly a hundred times since her resolution to complete a painting-a-day started on January 1, 2017.

Her New Year’s Resolution had no real rules, so Rachel kept it seemingly simple, painting the view from the picture window in her new home on the mountain in Sabillasville. Each day she paints a unique rendition of the scene on a new 2×3 inch piece of gesso board.

The goal of a resolution is often measured in quantity, like counting calories or losing weight, or an absence of quantity, like stopping a bad habit or abstaining from eating a certain food. Rachel’s resolution seemed to be of the first variety, simple arithmetic—a painting a day.

In fact, Rachel’s resolution took on a life of its own, complete with the emotion of changing moods in the weather; the changing perceptions of the scene by Rachel, her children, and her husband; and the lessons of attention to detail: appreciation of nature, awe of the grand order of the world, rhythm and changing palette of the seasons, ebb and flow of life, happiness about being part of something grand, and peace in new inspiration.

Rachel has captured the scene at the birth of sunrise, the rest of sunset, the blanketing of snow, the cloak of fog, the bathing of sun, the cleansing of rain, and amidst the demand of storm. She said, “Sometimes the fog goes on for days, but then you realize, the color of the fog is changing depending on what’s going on above the fog.”

In the first two weeks, she painted with her usual watercolor but couldn’t quite capture the beauty of the images as well as she wanted, so she switched to oil paint. Feeling somewhat intimidated by oils, Rachel told herself, “Just do it. That’s how you’re going to learn.” So, she completed her first-ever oil paintings.

As the days progressed, Rachel noticed involvement by her children. “They’re seeing when the clouds are pink, the sky is green, there’s a rainbow.” At one point, her daughter Saige (turning five in June), joined the project and completed her own watercolor paintings on small pieces of hand-torn paper.

With a five-year-old (Saige), a three-year-old (Atlas), and a one-year-old (Wren), the mom artist was bound to battle the demands for her time, and family comes first—as it should. This winter, one family member after another battled sickness, as strep, flu, pink eye, and fever swept through the family. Because of this, Rachel was not able to meet the painting-a-day demand.

Reconciling what could be construed as a failure, Rachel was able to give herself a break after talking to her husband, Brian, and her mother, Linda Faulkner, who are very supportive of her. Her mother, who is also an artist, told Rachel, “If you had a friend who went on a diet and fell off the wagon a bit but still was making progress, would you call her a failure?”

Rachel surmised, ”If I can just give myself some grace, it’ll be okay.” So, she paints when she can.

Having never done a daily or a long-term goal project, Rachel quickly streamlined her painting processes. She takes photos of the view with her phone. Her choice of 2×3 inch gesso boards was really a matter of convenience. With three youngsters, she needed her studio to be at-the-ready when the opportunity to paint presented itself. Therefore, she owns a small travel portfolio case that, when unzipped, has all supplies handy, including pens, pre-cut boards, her brushes, and a small old tobacco tin that she purchased from the Emmitsburg Antique Mall, used as her paint box so her paints don’t dry out.

The many paintings that Rachel has completed so far are displayed on the wall next to the family’s dining room table. Some look like photographs. Each painting is different.

There is one painting that Rachel does not like. She has repainted it several times. The image was from Valentine’s Day morning. Rachel explained, “It was the most beautiful sunrise ever. The sun shone like a spotlight into the sky on the clouds. I just cannot capture the light of the clouds. I can’t even count how many times I’ve started that one over. I just don’t have the skill to capture it yet.” Undeterred, Rachel aspired, “It will make me feel better once I’ve conquered it.”

Read more about Rachel’s story and her painting-a-day resolution results at the end of this year in The Catoctin Banner Newspaper. To see postings of Rachel’s paintings visit Instagram.com/rhmohler and facebook.com/rhmohler.