Comments on: No Resolutions for Me

By: PhDork

PhDork — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 03:23:13 +0000

Best of luck, SMC. That’s no small goal, and a very worthy one.

By: SarahMC

SarahMC — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 01:28:32 +0000

As I mentioned in another post, I’m trying to quit smoking. I’ve tried a few times before, so I feel sort of stupid even mentioning it. My guy and I live together and since we are/were both smokers we are trying to quit together. I wish we didn’t love smoking so damn much. Doing it with your partner makes it better in some regards and much worse in others (no post-dinner smoke breaks!).

I guess New Years feels like the right time to attempt a lifestyle change because there is that definitive line: it was one year, and now it’s another year. Anyway, I hope we get through it and it gets better. And sorry for hijacking your thread!

By: Psyche

Psyche — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:00:09 +0000

Winter in the Northeast always leaves me feeling tired, unmotivated, and depressed, so setting a couple of New Year’s resolutions or projects at least helps me get through January with a sense of purpose.

This year I have resolutions related to my career, to decluttering my apartment and to practicing my hobby more. But, instead of formulating them as habit changes, which I usually do, I’ve formulated them as projects that I should be able to complete over a month or two. I’m hoping this will help me stay motivated, when I can feel that achieving my goal is in sight…

By: Tall-in-Heels

Tall-in-Heels — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 05:59:44 +0000

I know new year = new things is arbitrary, but I like the idea of having a concrete time to reflect back and look forward. I don’t have a ritual for doing this at any other time of the year, so I take the obvious opportunity. I used to do resolutions and was never very successful at them. More recently I’ve made goals instead, and have been a lot more successful. In 2008 we made a goal to eat a certain number of vegetarian meals a week (for environmental and sad about how we produce meat reasons). In 2009 our goal was to cut down on our trash production by implementing a few concrete steps. Last year, after learning about how much food gets thrown out in this country, our goal was to be less wasteful; there’s still room for improvement and we’ll continue to work on that one. This year my “new” goal was to exercise again. Since starting my new job I’ve fallen badly off the exercise wagon and have had the longest stretch without regular exercise in probably a decade for me. I felt horrible, and decided that reclaiming my old habits wasn’t too much to ask for 2011!

By: Av0gadro

Av0gadro — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 05:19:24 +0000

This is actually the first year I’ve ever made a resolution. I’ve done Rosh Hashana resolutions in my teens- apologizing to people you’ve mistreated can certainly crystallize the knowledge of what you need to change about yourself – but they’ve been vague. Be less selfish. Treat your mother like she’s a person, not a mysterious other. This year, the timing was just right for me though. I had a baby in May and almost completely gave up cooking for my family, despite being a semi-professional cook. New Year’s came both at the perfect time to start to get my life back (at seven months and crawling, she’s a lot happier to let me cook) and after a two week vacation, which made coming home on New Year’s Eve (we were in bed by nine) feel like a new start.

So, for two days now I have fulfilled my resolution to cook a real meal for my family during the work week. Of course I’m not going to cook every day (that would be an impossible resolution), but if I can make three days a week at first, I’ll be happy.

So, diet-related in that it’s about food and will help me lose weight (take out isn’t health food), but certainly not a weight loss resolution.

By: BeckySharper

BeckySharper — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 01:35:23 +0000

I get very energized by the sense of new beginnings that the new year brings (both the calendar year and the Jewish new year, which is celebrated a few months earlier). I can usually channel that into doing things I have been putting off, like cleaning out the closet, or finding a new accountant.

I also use the new year to pause and say “Okay, this time last year, how were things? How have they changed? How would you like things to be this time next year.” This past year was an annus horribilis for me—lots of death and illness and upheaval in my family—so I was glad to close the book on it and try to visualize a better future.

Although I will say, as far as resolutions go, I totally agree with PhDork that the whole “new year, new diet” thing can fuck right off. I absolutely LOATHE the way gyms and weight-loss programs and ladymags use the idea of new year’s resolutions to fat-shame and sell dieting snake oil.

By: Cat

Cat — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:54:46 +0000

I make resolutions, but they’re usually in complete Cattish—that is, only making sense in the context of my own life. For example, my chief resolution for 2011 is just to live on earth. 2008 was like heaven for me, 2009 was hell, and this past year I often felt stuck in limbo. I just want to keep a clear head and feet on the ground, with neither unrealistic expectations nor paralyzing panics. That’s what resolutions should be, anyway—specific to the individual, not a mass promise that nobody keeps anyway.

By: Mackey

Mackey — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 22:46:51 +0000

Thank-you foureleven! I agree.

And Dorky, I hear you about goal setting. I tend to do goal setting (stock-take, planning, reflection etc) in a similar way – around Chinese New Year (it’s towards the end of summer here and when things start to return to the usual busyness), my birthday (which is also in April), and in September..

By: bellacoker

bellacoker — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:02:57 +0000

I tend to do my reflection and make new goals when I fly in airplanes as a way to put my fear to good use. As in, if this plane falls out of the sky and I die, what will I regret having not done? How can I start doing that when we land and I feel safe again?

By: Endora

Endora — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 15:56:57 +0000

Amen. I have actually never made a New Year’s Resolution. Any goals I have, I’ve already set, and it seems stupid to sit there trying to come up with a new one just for the sake of it.