Usually I’m not big on resolutions. My traditional resolution has been to floss regularly. But this year I achieved that, so it’s time for something more rigorous. Looking at the categories into which I seem to have divided my life, I’m making the following resolutions:
The Work: Brian O’Leary, last year, made the resolution to “write something useful every day“. And he did it! I like the idea of writing every day, though I can’t swear it will be useful. But since Bernardo has also made the resolution to write every day, it seems like a companionable thing we can do in the evenings after dinner. So, I am resolved that there will be blogging every day.
The Soul: Bernardo and I just started going to church regularly. I’d like to continue, and I would like to either join the choir, or start piano lessons again, because music feeds my soul like nothing else. So those are my resolutions for that category.
The Home: We’ve finished a year of pretty intensive renovations. This year will see us putting Venetian plaster on the walls of the living room, and repainting the sun room and kitchen. I’m hearing rumors of a new filing cabinet that will live in the basement – while it’s not my resolution to make to see all the papers in the house put away neatly, I can certainly encourage it. I resolve to stay on top of the laundry and pet grooming/hair sweeping, and to give a shit about how the house looks because I have to live in it. I am also not going to run in terror from my own finances. I SWEAR.
The City: I love my city so very much. Staten Island, in particular, seems like such an enormous secret – it’s a wonderful place to live, but nobody wants to hear that message. I resolve to take more pictures of the things I love in the city, to donate to the public radio station, to be more involved when there is trouble. Warm hats for Sandy victims!
The Body: Well, obviously I’m going to keep flossing. And my hip is as healed as it’s going to get – I have spent months resting and healing. I have joined a gym near my office, and every evening while I’m waiting for traffic to die down, rather than sitting at my desk, I’ll hop over and do some cardio. I’ve also unearthed my kettlebells and bands, and set up a home gym in the basement for resistance workouts on the weekends and when Bernardo has evening meetings, and downloaded Tracker2Go on my iPad and phone. I am also investing in a proper vanity table and jewelry armoire. No more excuses for looking like I’m falling apart, and wearing the same damn necklace every day because I’m too lazy to rummage for a different one.
Of course, to be realistic, for every resolution there are things we know we should be better at but realistically we’re not even going to attempt. Here are mine:
- Being better about the phone. I hate the phone. We all know this. I will never be good at phone communication. I like text. How about we resolve your unrealistic expectations around this?
- Being slower and less sudden/abrupt. Not going to happen. I know myself too well. It would be like asking me to be a completely different person. One who is deliberate and thoughtful and diligent about everything. Who is not me.
- Stopping beating myself up when I screw up. I have been doing this for 47 years. If I were inclined to stop, I probably would have it figured out by now.
- Lay off the avocados and seltzer. No.
