You Say You Want a Resolution

(Do you have that Beatles song in your head now? Good.)



I don't believe in New Years resoutions. I mean, not in general. They're all well and good for most people. Just not for me. I'm not above New Years resolutions or anything. I just don't need them. I'm kind of a 24/7/365 resolutions type of person. That's just how I am--constantly doing self-analysis and such. I think that's why I like those blog quizzes so much, and personality tests and the like; they allow me a chance at introspection. And instrospection should lead to frequent, or constant, resolutions. If you know who you are, you can see how far you are from who you want to be, and you can take steps to get there.

I like to picture doing a "Me" Venn Diagram. Who I currently am is in one circle, colored blue. Who I want to be is in the other circle, colored purple. So as often as I can, I like to look and see how much violet there is where the areas overlap. If the space in the middle is large, I'm doing OK. If it's a tiny sliver, well, then it's time to make some resolutions. See? So, I believe in "being all that you can be"--but all the time, not just once a year.

I did make a New Years resolution once. It was frivelous and silly and totally awesome. Or it would have been if I had done it. It was two or three years ago. I realized that my wardrobe was very blah, and I didn't feel that it expressed who I was very well. I am cheap when it comes to buying clothes. I have a hard time spending a lot of money on myself. So I tend to shop sales. And inexpensive stores. And sales at inexpensive stores. Generally speaking, I stress about buying clothes if they cost more than $15. So that leaves me buying a lot of clothes that I don't necessarily like or which don't necessarily say anything about who I am just because they're cheap. So my New Years resolution a couple of years ago was to buy myself one item of clothing per month that was NOT on sale and that absolutely DID express who I was. Did I keep my resolution? No. Not very well. I maybe bought myself 2 or 3 things that whole year that weren't on sale. And I realized the bigger problem for me wasn't the money--it was that I have split clothing personality disorder (SCPD for short). What I see on manaquins that looks cute isn't necessarily what I feel comfortable wearing myself. Or it suits part of myself, but not another part. So I can't buy what will espress me best because I can't figure out how I want to look. Retro? Granola? Goth? Cosmopolitain? Shabby Chic? Victorian? Yes. All of the above. They all express parts of my multi-faceted personality. Don't they make a store for that? No. Sigh.... Just a padded room.

So I'm back to doing no New Years resolutions. I'll just stick with my daily, weekly, and monthly resolutions. They seem to work out pretty well for me. What about you? Are you making any NYR's? And what do you do to make sure you keep them?