Happy New Year’s everyone! I can hardly believe that a whole year has gone by and we are already starting a brand new one. I just got accustomed to writing “2009″ on my checks (yes, I still write the occasional check and when I do I am lightning fast~no angry patrons in my grocery checkout line!) and now it’s time to change it up.
I’ve always been one to make resolutions. Each and every year as Dick Clark’s rockin’ the New Year I am promising myself all kinds of things. 1) I’ll be a better mother, 2) I’ll be a better wife, 3) I’ll lead a healthier lifestyle, 4) I’ll remember to feed the dog more frequently, 5) I’ll floss my teeth more regularly. See? All kinds of resolutions. And each and every year I intend to keep them. But here’s the problem. I never define what each resolution actually means.
I somehow forget to actually set a standard by which to judge whether I lived up to my resolution or not. Although feeding the dog more frequently and flossing regularly are pretty self-explanatory and should be fairly easy to accomplish, the other resolutions are one-way tickets on the fast-track to failure.
It is impossible to make a blanket statement, forgoing any parameters by which to measure, and resolve to change. Change what? Change who I am or change what I do? Change how I perceive things or change how I’m perceived.
Wherein making resolutions is as traditional to New Year’s Eve as giving a gift on someone’s birthday, I’m beginning to believe that making resolutions can be a very dangerous row to hoe. I’ve known plenty of people who approach the new year with trepidation and bitterness as they failed to meet any of the goals they projected for themselves on that same night, the year prior. In those cases, the whole practice of resolutions just isn’t worth it.
One caveat: If you are of the “it’s all in fun” mindset, then go for it. We’ve come up with some pretty random resolutions after a bottle or two of champagne. I’m pretty sure I’ve resolved to straighten my hair once or twice a week, bring my eco-friendly bags to the grocery store instead of perpetuating the destruction of the Earth with plastic bags, buy new razor cartridges instead of using the same one for so long it cuts with the force of a kitchen knife and replace my bedroom pillows before they reach the crisis stage of “flat as a pancake.”
So, on this, New Year’s Day, I am resolving to let go of resolutions. To let go of the frantic need to change who I am and set resolutions that I undoubtedly will not keep. Let’s make this new year one of acceptance and appreciation for who we have already become.
Here’s to a happy and healthy 2010, chocked full of possibility!
Mindy
Related posts:
Brandy
Hear! Hear! I concur! I haven’t done resolutions in many many years. For that very reason … the pointlessness of them.
And hey, I still write checks, too … well, one a month, for the rent. Which is why our checkbook outlasted our address. LOL
Yeah, I finally got smart and gave up the resolutions. I already feel 100 times better. Who needs the added pressure? =)
Mindy
Happy New Year to you too!!! I don’t make resolutions either because I always fail to keep them and failure saddens me. But I am making a list of things I’d like to do this year. Maybe that will keep me focused. =]
♥Spot
Yeah, I’ve got a list of things I’d like to accomplish, I’m just not calling them “resolutions.” That word is just so…final. =)
Mindy
No change? (Hands over ears, singing, “la, la, lahhhh”) I’m a regular changeaholic here. My family groans when we sit at the table and I say, “let’s plan to have one night a week where we…(learn spanish, have a game night, fill in the blank). I think I’m beyond help, so if I’m going to accept myself, I have to accept the part that likes change. It’s like being tolerant of intolerance…it’s not always easy. Overall, though, I like your plan. I wish you the best…and I hope you write about it on your blog…so the rest of us can enjoy reading it!
Hey, if you’re the type that actually sticks with your resolution (and I gather you are!) than go ahead with it! And there’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with change. I’m all for that too. I’m just not going to base my definition of success on it! This year. Who knows about 2011?!? =)
Mindy
Nicely put! Why we always feel the need to change things about ourself, I never understood. I mean if there are things you don’t like, then by all means change it, but if we are happy, leave well enough alone.
I like me, hubby likes me and the dogs love me. No need to mess with that, I got a good thing going.
Wishing you and yours a happy new year!
You’ve got it all figured out there, Heather. Happy New Year!! =)
Mindy
I like how a lot of us are on the same wavelength.
Very good, Mindy!
Yep, I think it’s that kind of year. =)
Mindy