New Year

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New Year’s Resolutions? What New Year’s Resolutions?

Another year has passed us by and the year coming… well, let’s just hope for the best, shall we?

They say you should welcome the New Year with a resounding declaration of “a new year, a new me!” This is excellent advice and I just want to take a moment to share my reflections on the past year and the personal changes I have in store for the coming… oh, who am I kidding?

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So Far, So Good

Don’t tell anyone, because I don’t want to jinx it, buuuttt… I haven’t received my annual communiqué from the ex. Whether I’m no longer the Antichrist or he just no longer has the need to drive the point home is hard to say.  Either way, yay me!  There’s a Thin Man marathon on TCM and nary a New Year’s resolution in sight.

I’d say, things are looking up as we leave 2019 behind. Let’s hope the New Year is equally blessed.

 

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Just Say No – To New Year’s Resolutions

The holidays have drawn to a close and what a strange Yuletide it has been. Life, in general, has been odd since my father passed in October, there’s just no denying it. My birthday was uneventful … which right about now – especially in my family, is a good thing. A quiet ending to a chaotic year was welcome.

Now … now, it’s that time again… when good people are expected to pledge their right arm and a sizable chunk of their self-esteem on promises they either have no intention to keep, or, through the simple human experience, fail to uphold. It’s an exhausting cycle of projected self-improvement and ultimate self-loathing.

The thing with resolutions is – they are all too often made half-heartedly and therefore easily broken. Plus, who says we have to make serious commitments to life-altering changes only once a year? Wouldn’t it be better to make adjustments as the year, and life, wears on?

Deciding on foregoing resolutions will certainly help one’s self-esteem – no resolutions made, no resolutions to break and feel guilty about later in the year month week. I mean, seriously, who needs more guilt?

Be a better person. Live a better life. Take chances. Those are resolutions worth making and would hopefully be easily kept. As for that diet or exercise regimen? Sure, make those too if you want, but just remember, promises casually given, even to oneself, are easily broken. In which case, don’t beat yourself up for it … I have no doubt throughout the coming year there will be times when you will feel the need to change some aspect about yourself or your life – seize it! For all intents and purposes, those decisions, those opportunities, they are your New Year’s resolutions, even if they come in July.

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It’s Not Just a Ball Dropping

Once again, New Year’s Eve is upon us.  Some see it as a reason to celebrate the end of a year. Others, especially the seasoned partiers among us, call it “Amateur Night.”  Still others view it only as an excuse to stay up late to watch Anderson Cooper get picked on and the ball drop in Times Square. In its simplest form, it’s a day that marks the completion of a specific period of time, and while that sounds boring, it’s not really. We celebrate the fact that after 365 days, 6 hours, 8 minutes and 38.4 seconds, this large chunk of rock and water travelling at 67,000 mph (yes, that’s faster than a speeding bullet) we call Earth, has arrived at the same spot in the universe it left 12 months ago without hitting something and spiraling wildly off into space killing us all. Hmmm, I guess that’s a pretty good reason to celebrate.  Before I go on, let me take my Neil deGrasse Tyson hat off (and hope that the smarter ones among us, I’m looking at you Paul, don’t end up correcting me on my figures – I worked hard on that).

As we complete each year, New Year’s Eve holds a special place in my heart. And while I’m not big on the whole resolution thing, it’s always been a moment of self-reflection. New Year’s Eve, especially this year, is for me a confluence of emotions that bring back a lot of memories and presents thoughts about what might lie ahead for me as I make plans for some serious changes in the coming year. I know, heavy, right?

This year, I’m celebrating my own version of the ancient Roman holiday of Carmentalia. It was a festival celebrated around this time of year in honor of the goddess Carmenta. She had the power of looking back into the past, and looking forward into the future based on what she learned from the past. Pretty nifty gift if you ask me, and don’t we all wish we had that power? The power of using what we’ve learned from the past wisely.

I feel that I should take a moment to explain. The time around New Year’s Eve always represented a personal trifecta for me. I was born on December 30th, a last-minute tax deduction for my father. I won’t say what year it was, just know that the AARP has me in their membership sights. Discounts at Denny’s are great, but yeah, not yet. Of course, there is the “normal” reason for celebrating.  I made it through another year without blowing anything up, or getting sued for anything I’ve written here. And miraculously, my kids and animals are all still alive, as is the one plant I’ve laid claim to. Go me! And this December 31st would have been my 19th wedding anniversary. I say “would have been” because my divorce was final this past January, hard on the heels of my 18th anniversary.  Believe me, that was a positive event despite also being a disappointing one. And since then, the dating world opened up in front of me in all of its anxiety-inducing glory. I know, it’s weird, right? Glorious and exciting, but weird nonetheless.

Anyway, as I said, I’ve decided that I’m going to celebrate Carmentalia. And I’m going to have a little chat with Carmenta herself. I need answers. Where have I been, where am I going, just what the hell is up with Tinder?

I have big plans for the coming year and life changing events are on the horizon. It’s a thrilling and good-scary time, and long-overdue. Ever the realist though, the raging introvert in me shouts, “Yeah, okay, so you’re starting a new adventure in 2018, but let’s not go overboard, okay?” I guess I do have a New Year’s resolution after all. And that’s to put my hands over my ears shouting “la-la-la-la-la, I can’t hear you!”

In the meantime, placating the introvert in me actually sounds like a peaceful way to usher in the New Year and ready myself for what’s sure to be a wild ride. So, this New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day will find me ensconced on my sofa – with some equally introverted company, grazing on leftovers and sipping on a lovely Moscato a friend gifted to me, while the TV alternates between a 24-hour marathon of “Psych” and the showing of all 6 “Thin Man” movies. I know, I know, it won’t be the chaos that is Times Square when the ball drops. But, hey, it’s not like I can completely disregard who I am after all. And why would I want to? Plus, this will no doubt ease my mind and prepare me for the next 67,000 mph race around the sun.

Bring it on 2018 and Carmenta. I’m ready.

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Confession Time

So, while I did not make any “true” New Year’s resolutions per se, I did make a somewhat small vow to be a better, nicer, more tolerant person by reining in my bad colorful language (as it is directed at others, even if said persons are completely unaware of said tirades against them), especially when driving. It’s not going well. Just in case you were interested.

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Promises…Promises

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have many ideas for self-improvements for the coming year (despite my usual complete lack of follow-thru); however, there are some aspects that I already know won’t be changing. There’s no sense in even trying. All I can say is: “You’re welcome,” or “Sorry, but not sorry,” depending on how you choose to look at it.

I prefer to look at it as “Welcome to the New Year, and hang on for the ride!”

 

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May Your Troubles Last Only as Long as Your New Year’s Resolutions

The holiday season is coming to an end and as always it’s a little sad that the year has flown by. We’ve eaten too much, spent too much and binged on too much spiked cider…okay, well, one can never have too much cider…the point is — now we’re at the finish line about to watch the big metal ball drop. As the clock inches ever closer to zero on 2015 my mind starts racing with thoughts of what’s to come and, more importantly, how I want the future to look.

Come New Year’s I have a pretty steady habit of falling into the inevitable pit of denial that is typically referred to as the “New Year Resolution.” Ahhh, so many grand plans, lofty goals, and stellar aspirations! You may be familiar with what I’m talking about. The affirmation that this will be the year that you stick to that fantastically slimming new diet or never waver from an unimaginably boring exercise schedule or god forbid just being more patient with all the other people in the world (yes, even the really annoying ones).

I make these plans as if the cycle won’t repeat itself and these resolutions won’t go down in flames by the second week of January. But, as history shows, while I’m awesome at coming up with these wonderful ideas, I am severely lacking in the follow through. And that’s kinda the part that counts. I’m reminded of Seinfeld… “You know how to take a reservation…you just don’t know how to hold a reservation.” The same could be said for resolutions.

So, why do we even make these hollow promises to ourselves? Why do this to ourselves year after year? More often than not, as we’re scraping the bottom of a pint of Ben and Jerry’s or letting loose a steady string of obscenities at the car ahead of us who wasn’t moving fast enough to let us speed through the yellow light, we end up feeling horrible. Okay, well maybe I don’t feel too horrible about the Ben and Jerry’s — have you even tried Karamel Sutra!? Oh my god it is sooo good! Who can resist? Certainly not me.

But the point is – with resolutions; we’re once again reminded that we simply can’t always stick to all of the things we feel we have to improve upon. And maybe that’s not the point. Perhaps just acknowledging that we’re not perfect is enough of a positive step.

Or perhaps that’s just a BS excuse that’ll make it that much easier for me to watch my new running shoes collect dust in the back of the closet.

 

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