Perhaps it is strange to reflect on New Year’s Resolutions in April, but by now, if I had made them, they probably would have been broken. I stopped making New Year’s Resolutions because for me they became trite and repetitive and even generic. I have been through the same litany of resolutions that most humans have: lose 10 pounds; don’t yell at children (when they were younger); be kind (kinder) to my husband; be more patient with others; be a better mother, daughter, sister, friend, etc….They didn’t work because they didn’t really fit. So, if I were to have them, here are my New Year’s Resolutions for every year–ones that actually fit me:
1) Look in the mirror and learn to accept, with love, what I see–warts and all.
2) If I can’t do #1, I’ll buy a new mirror.
3) Realize that I don’t have to lose ten pounds any more and believe that I am fine the way I am–no matter what numerical size of clothing I am wearing.
4) Eat a hot fudge sundae and/or a donut at least once in 2017….and enjoy it the way I used to before I started looking in the mirror. (buy a new mirror).
5) Be kinder to myself–squelch the voices in my head that remind me of what I’m doing wrong.
6) Take more sick days when I’m not sick.
7) Take more photos of the beauty around me and then put the camera down so I can enjoy the beauty without the lens.
8) Listen more and talk less–to my husband, children, grandchildren, family, and friends.
9) Don’t judge others. Accept them the way I want to be accepted.
10) Accept myself.
11) Realize that most things that have been done to me are because I have allowed them to be done to me.
12) Call my logistically distant friends more. It’s not enough to believe they know I am thinking about them. I need to tell them so.
13) Let those I love know that I love them so much–often.
14) Remind myself not to continue to blame others for past transgressions. The past is the past.
15) Continue to keep my priorities straight: myself, family, friends, play, work.
16) Worry less when I don’t hear from my children throughout the week.
17) Read, read, read–what I want to read and not what I should read.
18) Write, write, write.
19) Permit myself to carry this list over to my 2018 New Year’s Resolutions.
