Each year, as the calendar turns from December to January, greeting a new year and leaving one behind, millions of people make "New Year's Resolutions". Typically, they resolve to improve themselves or their lives in some fashion. Popular themes for resolutions include health (losing weight, exercising more, drinking less, quitting smoking), finances (spending less, saving more, developing and/or sticking to a budget, changing careers), and organization (better time management, minimizing clutter, devising a filing system).

These are all worthy endeavors, and I could stand to commit to a few of them myself. Some of my own goals include losing the rest of what I can hardly continue to refer to as "baby weight" now that my "baby" is looking more and more like a toddler with each passing day, improving my horrible posture, and wasting less time on the Internet. (Note to self: Exercising more has the potential to contribute to achieving success in all three, while appeasing the multi-tasker in me!)

I got to thinking about how every January, I make a resolution or two, and how by every February, I've forgotten what exactly it was I set out to accomplish or why. I got to thinking about how my resolutions are almost always selfish, benefiting only me and doing little for the world around me. I got to thinking that I should do something about that, and wondered if I might be able to encourage others to do the same.

I'm still going to work on getting to a healthier weight, standing up straighter, and frittering away fewer hours on facebook. I can do more. And if you're reading this, so can you. Will you?

Go ahead and quit smoking, count calories, save your pennies, do whatever you feel compelled to do to become a better version of yourself. But don't stop there. Can you resolve to do one thing, even a small thing, to benefit the world around you? Something that helps the environment, or your community, or a group of people, or an important cause?

Readers, can you join me in spreading this challenge, and talking about it, and making it a topic of conversation in your little corner of the Internet? Let's do this together. Do you smell a blogshare?

Here's how it works:

• Spread the word. Point your friends, fans, and followers to this post, and let them know that you plan on participating. Encourage them to join you. The more, the merrier!
• Write a Blog Post between now and Sunday January 2, 2011 about a resolution you plan to make that makes the world (even just a small part of it!) a better place. The point is to "think outside the box". Maybe you'll resolve to compost, mentor an at-risk teen, adopt a pet from a rescue, volunteer at a homeless shelter, or organize a protest. The sky is the limit!
• Publish (or schedule the publishing of) your post on Sunday January 2, 2011. Please include a link to this post.
• Return to this post and comment with a link to your...let's call it..."The Better World Resolution Blogshare" post.
• On Monday January 3, 2011, I will share my own "Better World Resolution" post. I will also share the links to all of the blogshare posts you comment with here. The post that moves me the most will be featured, and I will donate $10 to the charity or cause of the writer's choice. I will contribute an additional $10 to the charity or cause of a randomly selected (from links posted in comments to this blog entry) writer's choice.

Have fun, make a difference, and make 2011 a year for both a better you and a better world!

*ATTENTION MOM BLOGGERS CLUB* If you're reading this on MBC, and wish to participate in the Blogshare, please be sure to link to your Better World Resolution in a comment to the original blog entry: LINK at Fine and Fair.