There are people in the world (ten-year-olds come to mind) who remember every promise ever made for the sole purpose of noticing when you break one.
Polimom gets burned on this all the time; thus, I think it’s a very bad idea to state one’s New Year’s resolutions publicly. On the other hand, it’s far too easy to ignore those little commitment slips when nobody’s watching. (Don’t ask me how I know this…)
Having said all that, the reality is that my life could use a tune-up here and there, and so with some trepidation, I hereby offer my 2007 New Year Resolutions:
— I will consciously and deliberately perform a random act of kindness for another person once each day. I’m hoping that it will become a habit.
— I will stop pretending that my clothes are shrinking, the font on the Tylenol bottle is getting smaller, or the volume is too low on the television.
— I will figure out where I left my sense of humor. I can’t remember when I saw it last, but I’ve checked all the likely places: behind the couch cushions, in the bottoms of my pockets… No luck.
I’ve concluded that I must have loaned it to someone, and I just don’t remember (that relates to the resolution just above). So if you’ve seen Polimom’s sense of humor laying around somewhere, or you’re the person who borrowed it, could you please give it back? I need it (please and thanks).
— When I see something that a loved one would enjoy, I will not say, “Gee. Gotta remember that when his birthday gets here“, or “I’ll have to come back for this before next Christmas“.
I will get it right there and then, because I’m really old enough to know by now that a) I’ll have forgotten what is was or where I saw it, and b) it’ll probably be sold out anyway.
— I will reinvoke the philosophy of my youth: You only get one chance at this life, so go and live it; don’t just talk about it.
There are so many things I still want to see and do, and if I don’t get up off my ever-widening duff, they’ll end up as regrets rather than memories. I’m tired of the “coulda-woulda-shouldas”.
And along those lines… anybody got Saints tickets?
All of this sums up to one thing: An Attitude Adjustment… and I really need one.
2006 brought an onslaught of bad news; Iraq’s continuing deterioration, heightened tension with Iran, increased murder rates, frustration at the snail’s pace of the Gulf Coast rebuilding… the list is endless. I can’t fix any of those things — all by itself, another source of angst this year.
One can only read, write, and ponder a finite amount of this until the soul starts to wither around the edges.
Since mine is definitely starting to wrinkle up a bit, it’s high time I gave my inner engine a little tweak here and there… because I know that making these small, individually unimportant changes will make me — and those I love — feel better all the way around in the coming year.
In fact, I feel better already.
Happy New Year.