As a general rule I am against New Year's resolutions. Not that I'm anti-improvement. It's just that the whole new-year-new-day-turning-over-a-new-leaf-a-whole-new-me-in-2008 seems a little...what? Cliche? I don't know. It's probably the same reason I avoid going back to the gym in January. Everybody else is doing it. And you know very well that 50% will fall off by March. Oh, boy...For an eternal optimist that sounds a little glass half empty, doesn't it? I know I'm in a minority here. Every one of my adult girlfriends are resolution lovers. They can't help it. They are type A down the line. That's probably why I chose them as friends, because I desperately need their influence. One of my friends looks forward to new year's resolutions like I look forward to new clothes. They make her giddy. She has resolutions to make more resolutions. (Pargs, you know it is true.) But I just can't get into it.
Look, it's just that in my experience, New Year's resolutions fit into the same category as crash diets. That blank calendar does something to our logical brains, and all of a sudden we are going in for the total overhaul in three months. The quick fix is on, and then when we don't see the whole new me emerge by March it's just too depressing to continue.
What I know is that improving my being, which tends toward laziness like a homing pigeon,is a slow, three steps-forward-two-steps-back, sort of process. My nature and tendancies are not going to be changed in three months. They're not even going to be changed in a year. Sadly, my New Year's resolutions would be nearly the same every year, and they'd go something like this.
1. Practice more patience.
2. Be a more gentle mother.
3. Be more thoughtful spouse.
4. Think of others more than myself.
5. Read scriptures EVERY DAY.
6. Study the Sunday School and Relief Society lessons.
7. Complete my food storage...or, okay, just get a good start on it.
8. Send a birthday card to all family and friends. Next year I'll work on getting them there on time.
9. Catch up my photo albums/scrapbooks.
10. Rid my house of all clutter.
Yup, pretty much the same list I was working on last year. I'll tell you what. When I can check off all the items on that list, I'll be happy to make some New Year's resolutions. Until then, I've just got too much work to do.
7 comments:
Happy New Year! I'm with you on the resolutions. Although I AM going to start watching what I eat a little bit more. Not more than I do during the regular year, but more than during the holidays. If it wasn't nailed down, I ate it!!
I hear ya. I've never really made resolutions for all the same reasons. This year our family needs a little overhaul and it just so happens that I had some major aha moments right before January. So, guess what? Yep. resolutions. Though, we are calling them "life changes" instead.
I love this! My friend, Katri, and I were having this same conversation today and I believe the word 'cliched' came up. I have never set a new year's resolution and I resolve to never start. How's that?! I just try to improve all the time. How does the calendar have anything to do with that?
Yeah, I skipped the resolutions this year just because of the whole cliche-ness of it. Im just afraid that i'll be setting myself up for failure. I DO want to get back in shape, and I DO want to have a cleaner house, but these are things I want to do all the time...not just for the first three weeks of January :).
"eternal optimist"
"glass half empty"
Hey... I've said this before. When the glass is half empty, the waiter comes over and fills it up.
I'd much rather my glass half empty than half full.
As for NY resolutions. I made one... to avoid people who made NY resolutions. So far, it's working.
"which tends toward laziness"?
Excuse me? Who are you? And what have you done with Laurel?
Yeah, "lazy" sums you up like "humble" sums up Paris Hilton or "stable" sums up Britney Spears.
#8 is always on my list as well! :)
So I started running on December 24th...therefore it is NOT my New Year's Resolution although I do plan on continuing to run/exercise 3 days a week, I refuse to call it my resolution. I'm with you on those. And my list looks VERY similar to yours year after year and still very much unchecked...and speaking of "food storage"...I happen to be the NEW food storage coordinator in our ward! And yes! I did jump up and down when I found out I was being released as Choir Director thank you very much!!
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