Do you still make them?
I don't. A cold day in January when you might not be at the peak of your energy/positivity levels (to say the least) is not the day to stop doing things you like, or to start to demand great things of yourself. Also, the giving stuff up type don't work because most people can't deprive themselves of things they love to order; you break bad habits when the time is right for you to do so, not because the calendar's flipped over. You might suddenly get in the zone for dieting, or capture out of nowhere the willpower to give up smoking, on some random Wednesday in April, not on January 1st.
My thoughts on some popular NYRs:
- Losing weight - well, I first made this one on January 1st 1972, I think, and did so for many more years, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. Obviously never that successfully or I wouldn't have kept making it for 43 years!
- Giving up smoking - see paragraph above the starfish picture.
- Going to the gym - signing up for a gym in January then not going is such a cliche I'm not even going to mention it (oops...).
- Be a nicer and more tolerant person generally - that will work until something really gets on my nerves, which might be in about two hours' time when I'm in Morrissons.
I've stopped making these. Useless. Enough stress in life. If I HAD any, it would be to be a little less tolerant of some of the rubbish things I get tweeted! Oh, and to appreciate my friends even more, but then that is hardly a resolution ....
ReplyDeleteI think you do that anyway. As for being tolerant about the rubbish spam you get tweeted - why???!!!!
DeleteOh I do like your common sense! I've never really made serious resolutions. Been through the gym cycle- I hate gyms. What's wrong with a brisk walk? My hubby tried, unsuccessfully, to give up smoking, many times & then one day 12 years ago suddenly decided he didn't want to smoke any more and he hasn't.
ReplyDeleteAh, exactly, exactly! What happened to your husband with smoking happened to me with drinking - about 3 years ago I suddenly realised i wasn't really enjoying it anymore, so I don't do it much now, just about once every couple of months. I think smoking might be going that way too. Anyway, it's only January 1st because Julius Caesar said it is, isn't it? Am I right, or have I got my facts wrong???!!! I mean, it's not a magical day, is it??!!
DeleteWell, the last New Year's resolution I made was to blog once a week. And that worked out pretty well. Also I met cool people. ;-) I'm actually in a storytelling show on Resolutions this Saturday, so I'd better hurry up and figure out what I'm going to say about them. Sigh. I think instead of making resolutions we should each get three wishes.
ReplyDeleteOh yes!!!! Now, how can we get a nice fairy godmother to agree to this? Ps, you appear to have had your hair cut since I looked at YOUR blog a couple of hours ago :^D
DeleteI haven't stayed up for NY for years, and as for resolutions, well, I could simply change smoking for coffee and they'd be the same. Happy New Year, TT.
ReplyDeleteMwah, vallypeee! A taxi driver said to me on the way back from Morrissons, 'where are you off to tonight, then?' and I said 'I gave up going out on New years Eve about 15 years ago'. I suppose I should be flattered he thought I looked young enough to still be doing that sort of stuff!
Delete"The Walking Dead" is an excellent choice...Think it's the remainder of "Psychoville" followed by "The X-Files" for me (with a glass or two of gin!).
ReplyDeleteAs far as resolutions go...eh, mine are the same year on year and they rarely last beyond New Years Day.
Oh yes, I love Psychoville! I've only just discovered TWD. My life has begun anew ^D
DeleteFinish the Hobbit Trilogy. Check. Yes I guess that means I met all last years goals. I made my last resolution 5 years ago. I was "I resolve to never resolve again." So far so good! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
ReplyDeleteHYN to you too, Anita, and aha! Now I know your name :)
DeleteOh I don't do resolutions - why set myself up to fail? I start each day with good ideas and faff my way through some of them - and refuse to beat myself up about all things I don't get round to. After all, there are books to read in the evening - much more fun than self-flagellation!
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more. The older I get, the more i think life is for doing what pleases you :)
DeleteI watched the New Year come in only because our daughter was with us and insisted. All I could think about was what those fireworks must have cost - and who paid.And how many homeless people that kind of money could have helped. I give to charities so not adding that as a resolution. And last year i resolved to help the one homeless man in the village, but after frightening him half to death by chasing him twice to give him a pie I'd made for his dinner, I gave up on that. The family haven't let me forget that. So no resolutions other to stop trying to change things I have no control over and get some peace in my head - and, in turn, to give my family peace in theirs by not ranting on about things.Oh, and to get a new keyboard because the 'w' has stopped working properly on mine - and when stupidly answering a persistent 'troll,it din't have the same depth of insult when I called him 'a tat'. Happy New Year Terry
ReplyDeleteThat's a funny blog post on it's own, Judith - go and post it on your blog NOW! I love the homeless man/pie story. Not ranting on about things is always a good thing to do - I've mostly stopped that now because I realise that no-one really cares that much (if at all) and the most important thing, really, is that Netflix keeps working.
DeleteYou can actually send off for my special information pack: "Really hard-hitting insults that don't contain the letter 'w'" :^D
Thanks Terry - never thought of it that way (pressing hard on the 'w' key there) will do that NOW j x.
DeletePlease tweet it to me when you've done so!!!!!
DeleteI think the time to think about resolutions is not January 1st. It’s in the middle of the year, when nobody else is thinking about them.
ReplyDeleteit's whenever it feels right for YOU, Thomas!
DeleteI don't really bother - haven't done for years - as I didn't see the point of (a) waiting until January 1st to do things I need to do and (b) beating myself up when I inevitably slipped on a resolution I knew deep down I was never going to be able to sustain anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I have done for a couple of years is not so much a resolution as a reminder - that I need to be more ruthless about decluttering my life. Instead of taking on new things I should be doing, focus on stopping doing some of the things I do habitually that I don't actually need to do but still cling on to like some kind of comfort blanket. Doing that alone, if I do it right - still working on that! - will free up time to do more of the stuff I already enjoy and leave me feeling less stressed about how I'm going to find time to go to the gym/write more/whatever.
Exactly - why wait until January to do those things?! I agree totally - it's an ongoing self-awareness thing, isn't it!
DeleteI never make anything I think I shall break!
ReplyDelete