New Year, New You?
Posted by Eric Seymour on 4 January 2005 | 4 responses
When it comes to new year’s resolutions, skeptics and cynics abound. But I think the dawn of a new year is a good time to start a good habit or break a bad one. (I also think the spring is a good time to do a thorough housecleaning–it may be a somewhat arbitrary time, but the tradition behind it lends a little extra momentum to the task.)
My resolution for 2005 is to lay off the snooze button. I expect I’ll be better off just getting to bed earlier rather than trying to steal extra sleep in 9-minute increments.
Have you made any resolutions? Why or why not? Discuss…
4 Responses to “New Year, New You?”
I did not make any New Years resolutions. I generally do not. If I have something that I need to do I don’t wait for Jan 1st. Or conversely, if there is something that I should do (and currently don’t/don’t want to)…Jan 1st usually doesn’t provide me any extra motivation.
That being said…I tip my hat to those who make a New Years resolution and stick with it.
Like Mr Runner above, I usually eschew NYR’s. If I’m blowin’ it somewhere, why wait to fix that character trait?
Still, I’m not happy about the fact that I have gained some weight since May – after shedding about 20lbs I didn’t know I had to shed after ACL surgery the previous Summer (I even have a video of it!) – & I’ve been meaning to make the time to work out. Seems Someone Else wants me to begin a regimen as well because last Friday the sky dropped 2′ of snow on Reno. We even made CNN. Now, each shovelfull being between 15 & 20lbs, I’m thinkin’ I moved a good ton o’ the stuff. Not exactly what I have in mind when I think of “working out” but it felt great to do it. So I aim to continue. Except, hopefully, without the snow shovelling part!
And I started a “reading through the Bible in a year” program last February that I’m not done with so I’ll finish that this year. And practice guitar more dilligently. And work at being a better writer.
Basically, instead of making resolutions, per se, I think folks, if they’re like me, generally need to work on better time management. I know I’m pretty crummy at it. There is enough time to get alla the stuff done we know we need/like to do if we just used our time more effectively. So I guess that’s what my actual (read: perpetual) resolution is. I don’t need January 1st to arrive before I start but it’s always a nice reminder!
I resolved to visit a foreign country that I can’t drive to. A mid-1970s high school field trip to Nuevo Laredo was my only international trip.
I don’t usually make New Years Resolutions either.
This year, I resolved to clean up my language, and stop using profanity. Especially in front of my children. However, my wife requested an exception; that I still talk dirty to her in private.
and, Moochie – I did one of those “read the Bible in a year” things a couple years ago. I was shocked and outraged to learn that it wasn’t the whole Bible, it was just selected passages, along with scripted discussions with my prayer group. In fact, the whole program was driven by some guy who cherry-picked passages that supported a very political interpretation of scripture. Forget that. I angrily declined to participate, to the shock of my prayer group, and instead, read the WHOLE Bible, cover to cover. (not the first time), and it took me longer than a year, but I simply won’t have some Fundamentalist wack-job trying to use Scripture to brainwash me.