New Year, New Me, blah blah blah
February 17, 2020
I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions. New Year seems to come at the wrong time of the year for it. It’s cold outside and there’s all that Christmas chocolate staring at you. It just seems that if you’re going to make a change, you should give yourself some chance for success!
It’s not that I’m against making changes. When I was in my late teens I decided to give up eating chocolate and crisps (chips for North Americans…) for Lent. I’m not religious, it just seemed that it was a manageable amount of time to aim for and I had a certain amount of guilt for all the pancakes I’d enjoyed without the payback afterwards. You might be surprised to know that I was very successful at it! How? I replaced chocolate with Caramac and crisps with Wotsits and Monster Munch. Sort of did it by the than the spirit
11 years ago I decided it would be good for me to lose weight and get fit. I did a good job of it – lost 70lbs, went to Curves 5 days a week, for a couple of years. Skinny(ish) and fit. Then I got ms and put the weight back on to the pound of what it was before, and decided to spend my life sitting down. Go figure.
In 2016 I decided to never to share or comment on anything that originated from the person who says his middle name is the main ingredient for guacamole. He says so much utter garbage that I decided that even sharing his most innocuous posts was encouraging him. I’m sure my one little click means nothing to him, but you’ve got to start somewhere. And it was easy, and now it’s become habit, which has to be the measure of a successful resolution – you no longer think about it, it just becomes part of what you do.
Some people are really good at the resolution thing, because they take a completely different approach to it. Dani is excellent at it – she takes a theme for the year, but before she does it, she critically examines what that’s gong to mean for her, and what it will actually look like. Read about it here – I think her theme of Enough for this year is going to be a challenge that’s she definitely up for.
Every year I facetiously say that my resolutions are that I’m going to eat more chocolate, watch more football and hug my dogs more, because that’s achievable, and yes, that’s what I’m going to do this year too. And the basis of those resolutions is quality of life – that’s what’s important – to enhance the quality of life of yourself and others. And, of course, if you enhance your quality of life, it doesn’t come at the expense of others.
I like to think of my “resolutions” in terms of different projects, which start whenever it’s the right time, no matter whether it is a new year or not. Last year’s massive project was Winnie and everything that brought. This year that project continues, of course, with us looking at more things to do, more places to go. There’s a couple of other projects on the go, and a few new ones on their way too, but it’s too early to talk about them.
Whether you choose resolutions or not, keep them or break them, I hope 2017 treats you well.
