As a friend commented this week on Facebook, “I’m okay with all the new year’s resolutions, but why does everyone have to say ‘New Year, New You’?”

Well, I think hope springs eternal for many of us, that this will be the year when we move closer to our hoped-for vision of ourselves. The New Year seems like a better chance for making changes …. the slate is clean, we can draw a whole new reality for ourselves.

I have my personal dreams, and I hope to instill some new habits for myself. But as far as “New Year Resolutions” go, I decided last year that every year it would be something that would bring more joy into my life. For 2015, it was to listen to music albums in their entirety, rather than just picking and choosing songs. Many friends gave me their suggestions for albums, and I discovered some artists and albums that were new to me, that I loved.

This year, my resolution is to go hear more live music. I have fallen into the trap where the only time you go see something special in your town is when you have out-of-town guests in for a visit. I guess what I’m really doing is moving live music from the “special events” category of my brain to the “part of my normal life” category.

What are the categories you sort events into – and is it time for you to change a category?