Keeping New Year’s Resolutions

As long time followers here know, each New Year’s Eve (and/or, the last quarter of the year or the first day of the new year…)

I think about what I’ve accomplished the past year, write it down, back date it…

And proudly proclaim to myself and others how I kept my New Year’s Resolutions this year….

Why Not?

This may seem rather bass-ackward to you, and granted, there are days when I wonder how anyone ever thought my idea of such activities was an authentic one…

But, overall and over the years, I still prefer this way of doing things – gets me into the habit of counting my blessings instead of focusing on my failures, for one….

It also makes me tell myself and you the truth – cuz I have to think about what I DID already – not what do I DREAM of Doing –

I have a fiction writer’s mind and heart – I can  invent some far-fetched dreams, that would be hard to live up to, doncha know…

Born in Despair

This all started when I felt outnumbered and labeled as “Loser” because I didn’t have Grand Plans for the Next Year I was willing to resolve and commit to –

What?!?  I ALWAYS have GRAND PLANS of RULING THE UNIVERSE –

But, fairly early in life, I realized how easily various plans collide – you see, there is:

• My Plan, and;
• Your Plan, and;
• The Universal Plan

And rarely, until much later will I or You realize how the plans came together to play out in perfect harmony, or mathematical sense, just as they were supposed to –

Granted, once in awhile, it makes sense, right then, right there – but mostly, if you have more than one planner involved, it takes awhile before all participants see the true beauty and mastery of the moment – and even longer still, before mathematicians world-wide agree, “Yup! Right There!  That’s the Formula for the Theory of Everything!”

Thus,  each year, those who know me get a taste of what bending the rules to be Master of Your  Own Universe REALLY Looks like –

IF they haven’t adopted My Standard way of doing New Years Eve for themselves, before –

(Seriously, you would think folks would try it just once – just to see how it turns out…is there no common curiosity anymore?  🙂 )

I’ve done this for so long, I no longer do the full backstory or “Ta-Da” fan fare when sharing the tale – if asked about resolutions, I’m more likely to say,

“Sure I have plans for New Years Eve!   I’ll list out everything I accomplished this past year, phrase in the affirmative and back-date it to January 1st – oh, and I do my taxes – what are you doing?”

Seriously, you asked me about my plans for this night, last year, and thought my idea wonderful, and now you just asked me again, one short year later, what my plans for The Evening are –

Sigh – Having Short Term Memory issues, eh?  Well, there are things that can help with that, you know…

🙂

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I happily report I kept the following 2016, back-dated, New Year’s Resolutions:

• Learn basic Residential Electrical wiring to do minor repairs/fixture replacement without electrocuting myself or setting the house on fire – helps that this year, the wiring/breaker box of circa 1920s or 30s has been replaced…
• Invest in Power Tools and learn how to use them…sans E.R. visits
• Learn Basic Essential Oils for Household, Health & Cosmetic Use
• Learn Basic Reflexology & Massage Therapy
• Learn basic set-up of various social media accounts, so I can say, “meh! Tried it – not a fan….”
• Learn More about the story Google Analytics data tells you about the online world
• Learn Basic Video Editing
• Move to a Mac Computer (this one was nearly 10 years in the dreaming world….)
• Raise a child who lives long enough to attend college and send him off with his own adulting world wardrobe (putting together an interchangeable wardrobe of dress up clothes for a male, at Men’s Warehouse is much easier than outfitting a daughter for prom – not that I would know, for certain, but I suspect – I have friends with daughters….)
• Send out on time nearly 200 invitations and then throw a party  and have it not suck, for son’s graduation/mom’s retirement (this was HUGE, HUGE! I tell you – I’m not a party planner!)
• Streamline my business operations and services to be more efficient, allowing me to spend more time on content, less time on security/updates (Goodbye discount, big name provider – I’m not going to diss you, as I’m waiting to see if you reply to my “Why I’m Leaving You” feedback you requested when I canceled my account – I figure, since I didn’t charge you with fraud, lying and downright shady billing practices, my feedback might not have reached the top/urgent/handle line of your inbox – just yet – ya got 3 months to respond, and then, sans any reply other than, “You’re right, we really have gone downhill these past 2 years”,  YOU Become FAIR GAME for “How Not To Be” exampling….)
• Show enough Business Profit to get a Mac laptop, cuz who want’s to take their desktop on a road trip?
• Invest in perennial health of my patch of land (more fruit trees and shrubs, expand perennial, native areas of place.)
• Remove Anger as my top Choice for Coping with Stress – P.S. Have replaced Anger with Bewilderment and Confusion, mostly – LOL

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Broad list, eh?  But yes, I did all that this last year –  Maybe it is small potatoes for you,  but this year HUGE for me – and, still not certain, really, how I survived it long enough to be telling you about it –

While the year kept to the goals of my long-term plan, and met my list of “to learn/research this year” things, it didn’t play out at all like I expected – as usual -(remember the variety of Plans all at work in the Matrix…)

Ah, well –

1. I can always dream about this coming year and what I’ll do,
2. Adhere to core goals in daily choices and, then, observe….
3. How do the daily choices of where I spend my time, energy and focus play out in the coming year?

For, in the end, if I’m one step closer to a long-term goal….

Or just a tad smarter/wiser than I was last year –

Well, then, I moved forth, right?

We like to joke about One Step Forward, Two Steps Back –

Sometimes, perhaps, Life just demands we do those Dance Steps – for reasons we don’t fully understand at the time.

In the end, we all wind down one phase, greet a new one, and, with an optimism that defies all logic, we plunge into yet another year of possibilities –

Happy New Year!

P.S. – You are inventing a machine to save me from myself or power tool injury, right?

Cuz “Basic Woodworking  & Furniture Building” is on My Plan of things to explore in 2017…

If I really, really LOVE doing such things, I might think about exercising enough to have the muscles to do manual carpentry – hard to saw off your own arm using manual tools, without great effort – –

On the other hand….Hmmm…Exercise Regularly is not even on my radar – won’t my daily activities take care of fitness thingees?!? 🙂

🙂