With the New Year staring us down like a loaded gun, I'm personally feeling that all-too familiar pressure to figure out/or resolve how to do better in the upcoming new year.

I have been a perennial New Year's resolution maker. I have also been a consistent Spring Break quitter, (meaning I'm lucky if my resolution carries me as far as the melting snow). I'm a true believer in the power of taking stock, and revisiting what you have going on in your life, so that you can plan and make positive changes to better support your goals.

That being said, there is something trite and frankly ineffective about merely resolving to do better in a new year. Unless we have real skin in the game of improving and bettering ourselves, we lose our motivation and give up on our resolutions more quickly than we care to admit.

Instead of resolving in the new year, how about we revolt?!

I would imagine there are any number of things about 2016 that have left you feeling frustrated, confused, angry, scared, etc. Instead of just resolving  to do better, how about if we revolt against our inaction, and tackle our discomfort head on?

We all know that words have power. Revolution inspires big thinking and big action. Resolution feels small and tame in comparison. Revolution fills you with passion, stirs your soul, connects you with youthful energy. Resolution feels like an obligation, it feels constraining and limiting.

Revolution is not inherently violent, it is however passionate. It is destructive only to the extent that it means breaking with, or challenging the status quo, with the desired outcome being real and sustainable change. Real change does not come from resolving for it to be so. It occurs when we challenge our thinking, stir our emotion and step up to the obstacles we encounter like warriors instead of negotiators. A resolution implies we are willing to compromise when it doesn't work out. A revolution implies we will fight to the death to make it happen.

How would it feel to fight like a warrior for what you really want? I bet it would feel a lot better than just resolving for it to be so.  Revolt. Don't Resolve.

Set yourself up to be a determined warrior in 2017, seeking your joy and happiness with a full-hearted commitment to its pursuit and achievement. Make your revolution a personal one, and those around you will feel its power and impact.

The world needs more of us to be 'all in'.

The world needs more of us to show up bravely, and revolt against so very many things we have become complacent about.

It's Aleppo. It's democracy. It's poverty and injustice. It's war and peace, ignorance and power. All of it starts with how committed we are to our revolutions and resolutions within ourselves.

I'm personally wrapping up 2016 with a renewed commitment to be a much more engaged citizen and individual in 2017 and beyond. I believe in the power of an engaged and awake individual, and I know that I have never fully challenged myself, or my ability to  impact the world.

I am ready to be brave in 2017, and I bet you are too!

Our Revolution can start small. It can start with the way we show up for ourselves in the new year. But small revolutions have a way of starting big fires!

Resolutions Out. Revolutions In! Think big my friends!