So, the other day, my husband asked me what I was doing, and I said, "I'm thinking about a new resolution. But I know I've got to be careful about it . . . "
My husband nearly bust a gut laughing. "Of all the people in world to be worried about a New Year's resolution! If you say you're going to do it, you will!" I love that my husband thinks I'm invincible that way. But of course, the fact that I *will* do the resolution is exactly why I *am* thinking so hard about it.
I know that the standard trope is that people make resolutions and then don't keep them. Failed (or meaningless) resolutions are the basis for just about every other comic joke right about now. But me, I have the opposite experience: I make a resolution, and it's highly likely to change my life.
For example, about a dozen years ago I resolved to "exercise gregariously". These days, I don't go for runs by myself almost ever (the exception was the summer I was training for the IronMan), but long after the year I first made that resolution, I still run regularly four days a week, and always with other people. Running with other people means I had to find the time to run with them (at a time when they can run with me), so most days I wake up and leave the house just before 6 a.m. Running with other people means keeping in contact with them, and so at some point I ended up taking over the job of sending out emails to our Saturday-morning running group. We've got about 5-12 friends who run, catch up on the latest news, and provide free therapy and advice for one another. In the summers, a bike buddy gets in on the act; we'll ride together maybe four days a week, 15-25 miles at a time. That little two-word resolution I made years ago has changed my daily schedule, my social circle, and my fitness level.
There was also the time I resolved to hold a year of once-a-month "Special Dinners". My kids -- particularly K-daughter -- loved those so much that they've now become a defining tradition of our family. We've added additional Special Dinners into the mix (like the Black History Month dinner, or the Purple Dress Dinner), and so nowadays the dinners come somewhat more than monthly. They've become topics of conversations with guests (and often, reasons to invite guests in the first place). This was another resolution that's made a big change in my life.
There was also the resolution to buy a bike and do an IronMan (with the ultimate goal of being not afraid of my bike and thereby riding it around instead of the car for most local trips). And not only did I do the IronMan, but I still ride the bike all over the place. And now my husband can swim, which he couldn't before he did the IronMan with me.
So generally, my resolutions work out to make my life different from before, in a really good way, and even spill over into other people's lives. Sometimes there are bad side effects (like having a car crash into my bike and give me a broken arm). And sometimes, it's true, I don't actually accomplish my resolution (I resolved to be able to do 50 push-ups when I was 50 years old; I got up to 40 push-ups and then the car/bike/elbow thing happened).
But I know that the act of speaking a resolution into my life has power, and I want to use that power carefully. That's why I was fretting in front of my husband. Because there's a new, big resolution for 2018, and I want to make sure I'm ready for it.
More on that later.
My husband nearly bust a gut laughing. "Of all the people in world to be worried about a New Year's resolution! If you say you're going to do it, you will!" I love that my husband thinks I'm invincible that way. But of course, the fact that I *will* do the resolution is exactly why I *am* thinking so hard about it.
I know that the standard trope is that people make resolutions and then don't keep them. Failed (or meaningless) resolutions are the basis for just about every other comic joke right about now. But me, I have the opposite experience: I make a resolution, and it's highly likely to change my life.
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Some of my past resolutions. (Do other people do their resolutions in multiple colors? Or save them as mementos? Or is it just me?) |
There was also the time I resolved to hold a year of once-a-month "Special Dinners". My kids -- particularly K-daughter -- loved those so much that they've now become a defining tradition of our family. We've added additional Special Dinners into the mix (like the Black History Month dinner, or the Purple Dress Dinner), and so nowadays the dinners come somewhat more than monthly. They've become topics of conversations with guests (and often, reasons to invite guests in the first place). This was another resolution that's made a big change in my life.
There was also the resolution to buy a bike and do an IronMan (with the ultimate goal of being not afraid of my bike and thereby riding it around instead of the car for most local trips). And not only did I do the IronMan, but I still ride the bike all over the place. And now my husband can swim, which he couldn't before he did the IronMan with me.
So generally, my resolutions work out to make my life different from before, in a really good way, and even spill over into other people's lives. Sometimes there are bad side effects (like having a car crash into my bike and give me a broken arm). And sometimes, it's true, I don't actually accomplish my resolution (I resolved to be able to do 50 push-ups when I was 50 years old; I got up to 40 push-ups and then the car/bike/elbow thing happened).
But I know that the act of speaking a resolution into my life has power, and I want to use that power carefully. That's why I was fretting in front of my husband. Because there's a new, big resolution for 2018, and I want to make sure I'm ready for it.
More on that later.