Friday, December 30, 2011

Out with the Old, In with the blah blah blah...

Time's Square, New Year's Eve, 1950's
New years resolutions suck.
In recent years, I've hardly ever heard of a truly achievable resolution.
I can hear them now..."Get the perfect body", "Fit into a size 2", "Be richer", etc, etc, etc..... And right around September of the new year, people tend to remember that resolution they made on good ol' January 1st and realize, in shock of course, that they haven't come anywhere close to it. And since its September (or whenever later in the year), well, quite frankly, why would they waste what little remains of that year trying to achieve our resolutions because.....they can just start fresh again next year... And so the cycle continuesI'm not hating on those of you who make new year's resolutions.. I promise! More power to you if you make them every year and feel a sense of accomplishment when you achieve your goals. If this is you, then you must be one of the few.. Go ahead and give yourself a big pat on the back, you rockstars, you :)But as for me, I fall into the other category. I set goals, or resolutions rather, that are either to hard to stick with or so vague that I convince myself I'm achieving them when in all actuality, I have not.

When I was in college I made resolutions that I would "Be more fashionable" or "Be a skinny minnie like all the other girls at the college bars", "Teach myself how to look put together" or, and this is a fun one, "Do my hair every single day".. HA! I laugh at these now but back then I was naive enough to have believed that these things could be achieved..  As I neared the end of my long, long college career I realized that none of those things I listed were celebrating "me". I started to realize that I wore the clothes and outfits I felt most comfortable in and that was my style. And my style is something that I LOVE... I didn't fry my hair everyday because, ya know what, I actually like to look natural and my hair does too (I've always had very long, thick, curl retardant hair).... Every weight or size ultimatum/resolution I've ever made has beed detrimental to me. One year I reached my goal size (6) down from a size 10 and in doing so had less self esteem than I did when I was a few pounds heavier. I was surviving on lean cuisines, water, salad, and cereal. When I look back at pictures of myself from that time in my life, I realize how unhappy I was. There I was smiling and all the while, inside I was thinking "still not skinny enough". I wouldn't say I have ever been victim of an eating disorder but what I can say for sure is that I wasn't far from falling into that category.

I know I've kind of rambled but the point I'm trying to get at is this: I'm done making new year's resolutions. Instead I am making myself a "2012 List"
I'm going to fill it with small, achievable goals that will enrich my life this coming year. They can be as simple as wearing sunscreen or eating an orange a couple of times a week. These are not resolutions so there will be no great, stereotypical disappointment if I forget to do a few of the things on the list or if I decide that something on it can not coexist with the direction my life ends up going in 2012.  Its just a list of things that are meant to work towards the greater good of my life, my home, my relationships, my health, and my hobbies. I'm currently compiling odds and ends that will find their place on the list.
I will post it on New Years Day (i promise :)

I hope you all have something fabulous and fun planned for New Year's Eve :)
Chris & I are having dinner with two of our closest friends at a favorite local fried chicken joint. Afterwards we are going to play a lot of heated rounds of euchre and probably sip a few rum & orange sodas.


1 comment:

  1. I agree to making goals that are actually attainable! Your NYE sounds like a fun and relaxing way to bring in the New Year! Enjoy!

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