Foreword

At one time or another, everyone has made resolutions for New Year's, for that big birthday, at the beginning of a new month, or even on Monday！We all want to make positive changes in our lives or break the bad habits that we have acquired, so we……set goals for ourselves, make promises to change, pledge to improve, or make to-do lists. It doesn't matter when you start or what you call it, everyone makes commitments to improve.Resolutions can be life changing or really quite simple.Whether big or small, they will affect your entire life.

We found that some of the most popular resolutions people make are：to spend more time with family and friends；exercise and eat right；lose weight；quit smoking；make amends or reestablish a relationship；go green；go back to school；help others；get organized；downsize and simplify our lives and our finances.

After reading the thousands of stories that people submitted, one thing became very clear. Resolutions are pretty easy to make but they are not easy to keep.Change is not easy to achieve.We found that many people made the same resolutions time after time.Does that mean that the resolutions they made were not realistic? After making resolutions, some people came to the realization that they didn't really need to change；they are fine just the way they are.Some people realized that more was not always better；a bigger house or a faster car wasn't really the answer.Sometimes less rather than more was the solution.

This book is the first step in setting aside some time to take a look at your life. Like some of our contributors, you might decide that you are fine just the way you are！You are in charge of your life.You can make any changes that you want, or you can resolve to be satisfied and happy with what you already have.Whichever is the case, we hope that the stories in this book will make you think, make you laugh, make you cry, make you say"ahhh"and touch your heart as they did ours.

～Barbara LoMonaco and D'ette Corona