Who and what do you want to be in 2010 (but more importantly, why)?

Today is New Year’s Eve and like many people at this very moment, I’ve been thinking about my resolutions.  I’ve shunned this tradition the past couple years because for some reason – if I clearly stated I was going to do something – the likelihood of it not happening was even higher than if I had not said anything at all.

I enjoyed a pretty successful first year out of college but like many, the recession soon found me and my hopes for steady work and monetary stability were knifed in the face.  This year, I learned that “Freelancer” was just a glorified term for “Intermittently Unemployed.”  Naturally, this leant me quite a bit of time to sit on my couch and stew in my own thoughts.  It took awhile to boil down the carcass of my early twenty-something idealism, but at the end of 2009 I found myself with a rather flavorful confit of hope and aspirations.  Since I wasn’t sure where to start, I asked a handful of friends what their personal resolutions would be.  Most were pretty run-of-the-mill (you know, like “getting in shape” or “getting out of debt”) and I’m not really the biggest fan of run-of-the-mill.  I was also set on making my resolutions concrete and more specific (you know, like “double the income I had in 2009” instead of “earn more money” or “master the Arabic language” instead of “learn new stuff”).  My desire to prevent my resolution from being ill-defined was shot to death (wow, my writing is violent tonight) upon asking my friend Bryan what his resolution was going to be.

“I’m going to be more awesome.”

As soon as he said it, I knew I had to have it.  That is my resolution – yes – my resolution for 2010 is to be more awesome.  I’m not even kidding – I am going to be so awesome in 2010, I won’t even recognize myself.  Awesome.  That is what I’ll be.

Of course, as I came down from the daydream of my own potential awesomeness, I realize that being more awesome than I was in 2009 is not saying much.  What I did recognize was that my desire to be more awesome was really just the popular human fantasy of reinvention.  Let’s face it – no matter how much we love ourselves, most of us wonder what it would be like to start over.  Whether it is a new look, a new job, a new location, or even a new identity – opting for a dramatic change makes us feel like we have a new lease on life.  This is what makes the tradition of New Year’s resolutions stay so popular (despite the fact that 80% of them are doomed for failure) and also what makes this particular theme so appealing in storytelling.

We all know that a good story requires our protagonist to want something and though on the surface it may appear he or she simply wants to be a more awesome version of themselves, there’s usually an underlying reason for why they feel they need to be.  Reinvention for the sake of reinvention is uninteresting (there are countless Hollywood makeover montages that prove this to be true) but reinvention with a passionate purpose makes great fiction – Edmond Dantès reinvents himself to become The Count of Monte Cristo in order to exact revenge for his callous imprisonment, Jay Gatsby goes from war hero to ritzy party planner in hopes of gaining Daisy’s presence and attention, Aladdin wishes to be a prince to win the heart and acceptance of Jasmine and her kingdom, Henry Higgins turns a country bumpkin into a “fair lady” over an industry bet, and Edward and Tom trade places as The Prince and the Pauper because, ya know, the grass always seems greener…

Since the sun is going to rise soon and I have to get some sleep in order to stay up and ring in the new year, I’m going to ask for your help on this topic… what are some of your favorite stories of reinvention? What do you think makes this topic so appealing? What would drive you to want to change who you are? If you could drop everything and start anew, where and who would you like to be? And hell, what are your resolutions for 2010?

I still plan on being more awesome.