Welcome 2012.
So. New Year’s. That time when everyone makes huge resolutions about spending the year building world peace, inventing cures for cancer, and losing huge amounts of weight. This time for sure!
Yeah, right.
Me? I still make some resolutions… small ones. Goals I can actually reach if I put in a bit of effort. I make resolutions about finding ways to be slightly better organized, kinder to other people, and more thoughtful about how I spend some of my time. And while I make a couple for January first, I don’t necessarily make all my resolutions then, either.
There’s an art to making resolutions that stick. You have to choose things you’re actually ready to do, make them big enough to challenge you in some way, but not so huge that you’re doomed from the outset, and you have to recognize that even if you don’t succeed at all of them, that doesn’t mean you’re an utter failure. Oh, and it helps a lot to keep the list fairly short.
Me? I’m vowing to be a better, more active FA activist this year. I’m going to keep right on being visible and fat. And while I firmly believe that others have every right to do as they please with their bodies – including dieting for weight loss and having bariatric surgery – I do not believe that this right requires me to agree with their decisions or actively support actions I believe to be more harmful than otherwise. I will continue to wear my scarlet Fat proudly, eat what I darn well please in public, talk loudly about human rights, and wear my new bright orange coat with great elan. Anyone who has a problem with that? Is cordially invited to eat a great big bowl of Mind Your Own Business Flakes.
I’m resolved to re-organize my kitchen this year. I haven’t done it since we moved in in 2001 and things have gotten a bit cockeyed, what with getting more kitchen stuff and just kind of jamming it in where I found a dab of space. Now there are cupboards that are unholy vortexes and I fear I will be sucked in. It’s time to pull everything out and put it all back together in a way that makes more sense… and maybe even get rid of a couple things that aren’t worth keeping.
Yeah, those are pretty much the resolutions I’ve made for this year. More will probably pop up along the way, but those are my big goals.
How about you? Anyone out there in Big Girl Land got a good one to share with the class? Do you have a secret for keeping resolutions?
I’m going to finally get back into reading substantial books, that might actually teach me someth – hey, stop laughing!
So I’ve been reading the Bible straight through since the beginning of December, and at some point later in the year I’m going to get cracking into The Tales of Genji. I might not finish the latter in 2012, but that’s beside the point.
I think life is about the journey, not just the destination. That means I try to set myself “targets” (you’re just setting yourself up to fail with “resolutions”, aren’t you?) that I’ll actively enjoy doing. As opposed to enjoying the feeling of being able to brag that I have done them. There are no prizes for making yourself miserable.
Comment by Liz — January 1, 2012 @ 4:17 pm
Hey Liz, the first time I read War and Peace, it took me more than six months. Sometimes there’s a lot to digest mentally in a book… and you may be doing other things, too. The Tales of Genji will take you as long as it takes you to read it. But as you say, it’s about the journey.
Definitely no laughing here. I never laugh at anyone for wanting to fill their heads with interesting ideas.
“There are no prizes for making yourself miserable” needs to be on a tee shirt in my wardrobe Right Now!
Comment by Twistie — January 1, 2012 @ 6:00 pm
I make the same two resolutions every year: try one new restaurant a month and cook one new recipe a month. The goal here is to shake us out of ruts that are far, far too easy to get into. I’m not anal-retentive about it – if I cook three new recipes in one month and none in another, I figure I’m keeping the spirit of the resolution, and that’s really the important part.
There are other goals for the year, but they’re not resolutions really, more prioritizations of things like the infinite amount of stuff that the house needs and my infinite reading pile that became somewhat more infinite due to 2011’s penchant for unexpected suckage.
Comment by TropicalChrome — January 1, 2012 @ 6:13 pm
I’m torn on resolutions. Now that it is officially the new year, I actually find myself refusing to set goals or reflect on my strengths and weaknesses. But I recognize that I’m mostly bitter that the plans/goals I set in Aug. that just happen to go into effect in Jan. will be seen as a resolutions and maybe to be taken less seriously. I’ll be taking an acting class and hopefully a dance class and I don’t want to be treated to the condescension I am usually subject to as a fat person in a dance class along with the “this is just a resolution she won’t be here in February” attitude.
Comment by klucille — January 1, 2012 @ 10:02 pm
Small goals are the key for me. I need to spend more time being creative, so am scheduling time to be in my sewing room. If I plan for 3 hours a month, that could be 15 minutes here and there or could be one productive afternoon. As long as I am aware of the need, I can fit it into my life. (I may borrow TropicalChrome’s resolution for one new recipe a month. And this time I’ll follow it to the letter before trying out “improvements”!)
Comment by Carol — January 2, 2012 @ 8:41 am
I like to set resolutions that will help me to learn something or grow as a person. In 2010 I realized I was taking on too many volunteer activities so I scaled way back in 2011, this made me realize that saying no to things that I didn’t really want to do left room for things I really cared about doing.
In 2012 I plan on learning how to knit, walking outside for at least 30 minutes more days than not and to possibly think about buying shirts that aren’t white. The walking has nothing to do with loosing weight and has everything to do with battling my mild depression.
Comment by Kimks — January 2, 2012 @ 6:02 pm
Vronsky is my boyfriend. Enjoy.
I have made one notable New Year’s Resolution that I actually kept, and I’m glad I kept it: Last year, I decided I was no longer going to look at my smartphone when I was in a conversation with other people. If I needed to look for an important message, I had to have the decency to excuse myself and leave the conversation, check, and then come back (if I was still wanted.) Once I stopped this “Attention-based OBO” behavior, I was glad to be fully present in conversations with real people. So …I now think there are things you can change with resolutions, particularly small things.
Comment by Lisa from SoCal — January 3, 2012 @ 7:38 pm