It’s one week and one day into 2014, and I’ve decided it’s
time to form my new year’s resolutions.
That is appropriate for me—I’ve always been a late-starter. I was born eight days late, and been
running about that late ever since.
In this household, we adhere to the 12 days of Christmas, so Christmas
officially is over at Epiphany, January 6. We didn’t take our tree down until the 4th. I’m
just now getting the last of the Christmas cookies and fudge out of the house
(why do I make them, anyway?).
And—most importantly—my people are finally back at work and school,
allowing me to resume a daily rhythm, allowing me time to reflect, allowing me
space to incorporate.
A little over a week ago, my son told me he was going to
make his new year’s “revolutions.”
I jumped to correct him, then hesitated. Why not a revolution? Because, sometimes, you gotta blow
things up a little bit to get something new started. So…what would I blow up? Well, for starters, I’d like to blow up my unreasonably high
expectations for everything. Lose
50 pounds in four months! Clean
out and organize the whole house!
Keep it organized! Stop
spending money! Learn to knit
sweaters, make all my own clothes, design all my own shoes! Be ready for a marathon in four
months! Bake all our own
bread! Become a vegan chef!
 |
| Random photo of fireworks taken by my husband to simulate explosion and represent New Year's celebrations |
Boom.
Blown up.
And then, I’ll start to build; small steps, covering more
than one goal at a time.
Instead of this: >>>> This:
Lose 50 pounds in four months!
Be ready for a marathon in four months! >>>> Increase
my exercise to
include three days of
higher-intensity activity; doctor has already told me to avoid running, so
probably a marathon is out, unless I become an incredible power-walker,
something it will take longer than four months to achieve.
Bake all our
own bread! >>>> Building
on our already
Become a vegan chef! healthy food repertoire, I will
try to bake
bread once every two weeks, and start the family on two vegetarian days per
week. It’s not that hard, really,
and we’ve already kind of started.
Yesterday’s example was pumpkin soup for lunch, and tofu pad thai for
dinner. We ate lots of veggies at
just these two meals.
Clean out and organize the whole house! >>>> Our
son is already on a
Keep it organized! schedule
for weekly chores
and cleaning. I just need to make a similar schedule
for myself and follow it. Bigger
projects will be broken down as much as possible; instead of “organize the attic,”
my weekly goal will be something like “clean and put books on one shelf.”
Stop spending money!
>>>> Um,
yeah. Always need
money. But my goal could be more extensive meal planning, however,
and then only buy the items on my grocery list and nothing else, right? Also, looking first into my chest
freezers to see if I could make a meal from there instead of going to the
grocery store for something else.
I already don’t buy much for myself, well..... Oh, and, renew my library card. I spend a ridiculous amount of money on e-books.
Learn to knit sweaters,
make all my own clothes, >>>> Right. I did learn to knit a little
design all my own shoes! bit, but it will take me years at
my current pace to finish an
actual sweater. Better to make a plan to go to thrift and second-hand stores
before buying new things from the internet. I can save money AND get unique items. I think I’ll have to save shoe design
for my next life.
I’ve seen arguments for and against making new year’s
resolutions (or revolutions, or goals, or whatever you want to call them). For me, the only way that they have a
chance of making an actual change in my life, and of outliving the tinsel and
gift boxes, is if I make realistic, tiny changes towards being the person I
want to be. Actually, all these
goals are superseded by my desire to be kinder to myself and to others. And, like anything else, I can achieve
this if I take it slowly, with reflection, one step at a time. See? I’m already being kinder to myself….
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