Who will you be this year? Christmas is over and the New Year looms. As a matter of fact, by the time you read this we’ll be well on our way into 2025. The decorations will soon disappear, packed into boxes and bins, to be replaced with Old Man Winter’s grey landscapes and dead leaves. The temperature will drop soon and the cold wind will blow hard against our hopes, dreams and resolutions. The question stands like a willow in winter, bare of its leaves and bending against the icy wind: who will you be this year?
If you could pile all of your unresolved New Years Resolutions into one place, what would it take to move them? A wheelbarrow, a dump truck or a fifty-car freight train? Personally, I think mine is somewhere shy of fifty boxcars, but not by much. All of my “I’ll lose weight by (fill in the blank here with exercise, pills, shots, or hypno-therapy)” would take up a really sizable space. The “I’ll quit/reduce my smoking by (fill this one in with vaping, gum, patches, or hypno-therapy)” runs a close second. I’ve got an awful lot of “I’m going to eat healthier’s” and even some “I’m going to travel more and go see (fill in the blank with all of those places you’ve always wanted to see but never get around to planning a trip to go see the)”. Resolutions pile up over the years like the lint in a fat guy’s belly button. Graphic, yes, but accurate. Those resolutions will sit there, packed in tight against all the other resolutions, until something is done about it. You’ve got to go in there and get ‘em.
What are resolutions, anyway? The dictionary gives a very simple, and accurate one: Resolution-noun: A firm decision to do or not to do something. Now, that doesn’t sound like something we should throw out there willy-nilly as a wishy-washy plan for the year, now does it? Heaven forbid, but throw ‘em out there every New Year we do. I’m not advocating to stop resolving to do better in our lives or to stop doing things that we know are hurting us. Heck, I’m still a fat, out of shape smoker that listens to most of his books, and eats like a twelve-year old left alone to fix supper. I really do NEED to resolve to do better. I guess the question is: how?
A decision has got to be followed by a plan of some sorts. Me, I’m a great maker of lists. I make a lot of lists. Then I forget about them, or I lose them. Then I wing it. And my life reflects the chaos in my piss-poor planning. I need to change that. I’ll put it right at the top of the list. I’m going to start with a simple schedule. 1. Stuff to do before I go to work. This can include writing, exercising, eating breakfast, feeding the dogs and taking the trash out. 2. Stuff to do at lunch break. I could read, or write, during this time. Not much more than that, giving my half-hour lunch. 3. Stuff to do when I get home. Here should be the meat of the resolutions, at least for me. Writing, exercising, reading, house chores, and time with Laura Gail come to mind, in no particular order. It’s not an exact schedule, but it’ll do to start. Oh wait! I put the schedule before the decision about who I want to be this year! Here it is folks, and YOU hold me to it: I’m going to write a novel this year. Yup. I’m going to be a novelist! I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, y’all make a decision in your life to be whoever you want to be. Just do me a solid? Do it all on purpose. And hang in there. Never give up on your goals and dreams. I’ll do the same.
God Bless Y’all!
Rolling Stones 