We live in a world where visiting a card catalog is no longer necessary to find a book, a periodical or anything else to write a report. It’s a world where people can be “discovered” not on the street, but online.

We have more resources at our disposal than ever before, but it seems like we don’t always take advantage of everything that’s at our fingertips.

They say that the more money you make, the more you spend. I know this has been true for me. As far as resources go, it seems this is a matter of opposites. For although I realize that I have more resources today than I did 20 years ago, the more complacent I’ve become.

I clearly should be moved to action. Musical aspirations? There are free means of promoting my compositions. But have I? No.

While I’ve managed to take this year and use it for one dedicated to writing, and while I’m glad that I’m not just blogging daily but that I’ve set it up to post automatically for the public (regardless of how small or large my “public” is), I wonder what other resources I’ll bother to find and take advantage of next year.

Sometimes I wonder whether the complacency is because I’m aware that while there are more avenues for communication, I therefore have potentially more dead ends awaiting my efforts…the dreaded “no outlet,” if you will.

Then I wonder which is worse: letting a dream live only in my head, or never letting it see whether there’s a crack in the wall just beyond the “no outlet” sign. A crack is a crack is a crack. And sometimes we need only the tiniest of openings to make something happen.

Tonight I am thankful for all of the resources this world offers, and for the knowledge that if I take advantage of none of them, I’m giving nothing more than a death sentence to my dreams. Here’s to identifying every possible resource that can make our dreams take flight, and to honing our craft in the meantime.