Resolutions

“Dance like no one is watching, love like you'll never be hurt, sing like no one is listening, live like it's heaven on earth.” –William Purkey

Each year we make resolutions. Lose weight, exercise more, be nicer to the in-laws, organize the garage, yell less at the kids, eat more fruit and not as much chocolate. But let’s be honest. Most resolutions fizzle out by mid February. Maybe some go as long as April, almost none to August, and by December we’re making the same promises as the year before only we add to it by swearing, up and down, that “this year will be the year I really do it.”

At least that’s what I do. Guilty as charged. I don’t follow through with my New Years Resolutions. I’m a New Years Half-Ass Resolver.

So it got me thinking. Why? Why am I a half-ass resolver? Is it the resolutions I make? Do they not matter enough to me? Maybe. I don’t care much about my weight as long as I’m healthy. I exercise every day (laughing counts, right?) I don’t have in-laws, so that’s out. I haven’t lived long enough in my house to make a mess of the garage. Yet. No kids either (unless you count my two four-legged-furry ones that speak dog. And I don’t really yell at them often enough to make that a resolution). I eat fruit, but more chocolate—and that will simply never change. I don’t care how long I live; the chocolate stays.

Is it the lack of accountability? Possibly. They’re my resolutions. No one else knows about them. So, if I don’t follow through…who will be the worse for it? Really not a single person. I can already hear some of you saying, “YOU! You will be the worse for it.” To those nay-sayers, I reply, “not really.” Refer to the paragraph above. The promises I’ve made haven’t mattered enough to me.

And there it is. My “ah-hah” moment: the answer to the question ‘why?’

I haven’t cared enough about the resolutions that I’ve made. Of course, being held accountable to someone (or many many someones) doesn’t hurt either.

And so came along this blog. I’m picking resolutions that matter to me—pledges I’ve made through the years to live my life completely and do the things that terrify me, make me laugh, seem impossible, and help me find peace—and asking myself, and you, to hold me accountable.

I will pick a resolution from the list, in random order, and do it. I have a year to complete all of them. Some will be easier than others, some more costly, some more frightening. But, they will all be done. And I will write about each one, complete with pictures as proof. I make that promise here. Now. To you. And more importantly, to me.

Goodbye half-ass resolver! THIS is my New Years RESOLUTION!

Here it goes! Thank you for coming along for the ride!

-PM