You got it, I am a big fan of the New Year's resolution! Do I always follow through? Well, I spent years resolving to lose weight and not procrastinate, let's just say, ummmm - still a struggle. Still, I am a firm believer in goals. Okay, so in general, I am an extremely goal oriented person. The only times I truly struggle with depression like issues is when I have no goals. So I am always trying to set up goals for my life. I look at the NY's Res as short term goals and sometimes jump start goals. I actually started my vegetarianism as a New Year's resolution. (Just hit the three year anniversary of that decision, yip yip!) So I have three resolutions this year. One health and consumer related and two are purposeful pursuits of favorite hobbies, that I often let slide by the wayside.
1st one, I have given up soda of any kind for the year. This means no more vanilla Coke habit. Granted, I have never been one of those, I have pop everyday at every meal and for daytime pick-me-ups, but I have been drinking more and more of it. For the longest time I wouldn't drink any soda at all, but it had crept back into habit. Soda has no real value and is wasted funds at this time, so out it goes (for at least a year, then I will re-assess.)
Goal number two: Read one book a week. Reading has been a passion of mine since before I could read myself. I have always loved the written word and the various places it can take you. I have often said, if I could find a job that all I had to do is read, I would do it in a heartbeat. (Now no comments on becoming a book editor, or critic - I said all I had to do was read, not anything else!) The problem is I am often unintentional about my reading time and then I have no time or energy. I recently realized for someone who proclaims a love of reading, I was not reading enough, I couldn't even be trusted to read the monthly book club selection (luckily that is not a requirement for the book club, I love my book club!) So a book a week, granted if I don't complete the book of the week, I may substitute with a reading of Green Eggs and Ham, hey, it's a book!
Goal number three: Letter writing - I love getting them, I love sending them, and I want to have that personal connection with my friends, so I plan on sending out a card or a letter to a friend or family member once a week. In the past, I have selected a person to send a letter a week - a friend doing a year of voluntary service in Africa, a friend doing a year vs in Seattle, a friend going through a year of chemotherapy. I even connected with an older woman at my church after a chance encounter where she talked with me about her continual struggle with grief of the lose of her husband. I made a continual effort over many months to send her thinking of you cards. Now, I am not giving this examples as a way of patting my own back, but as examples of a simple action that can have an impact. Everyone of these people appreciated the letters and I was able to forge bonds by this purposeful act. Emails and Facebook (while I LOVE LOVE LOVE them) don't have the same power as receiving a card or letter handwritten. There is a certain magic in that.
So there you go, a much longer post then I intended on my goals for the year. I plan on posted about the books, so perhaps my posting will increase. FYI, for the first week (being all of two days) I read a guilty pleasure book - Mary Higgins Clark Take my Heart. Watch for my next post about Luke Dempsey's book on birding - a subtle Eco lover book.
No comments:
Post a Comment