New Year's Wishes

For the New Year I Wish...


For a brother in law's continued sobriety

For a son to be potty trained

For a father in law's continued employment

For a husband's invention to come to fruition

To be one step closer to buying a new house, in a new neighborhood, with a garage and a heater that doesn't crackle and pop all night

For a pregnancy miracle

For a real best friend

For thinner hips

For more patience

For a sister in law to realize how wonderful she is and to leave behind anyone who doesn't feel the same.

For more energy

To give more time to my kids and not my computer

For more summer rain

For more time with my relatives

For a few more birdies and a few more pars

For safety, and health, and wealth and wisdom.




And if I can't have all of this, I wish to be happy with what I have.



.

I Lied

Ok, I've decided that I am actually going to set some New Years resolutions, despite my claim that I never do so. Because I realized, after reading several other people's blog posts about NYRs, that there is one area that I am/have been a serious slacker in: the spiritual stuff. So my New Years Resolution for 2009 is to be more spiritual and do more of the spiritual daily grind. Specifically...

1) Read my scriptures. Guess how many times I read my scriptures outside of church this last year? Zero. Yes, go ahead and faint. Stand far from me so the lightning won't hit you too. But it's true. So although it would be nice to say my goal is to read my scriptures every day, that is not likely to happen. So I'm going to go for hoping to read my scriptures at least every week. And if I can do it multiple days in the week, all the better.

2) Fast. Guess how many times this last year I remembered to fast on Fast Sunday? Once. Last month. Pathetic, I know. I think it's because I was pregnant, then nursing, then pregnant, then nursing for so long that I just got out of the habit of fasting. So my goal this year is to remember to fast every month.

3) Stop lying about New Years resolutions.


.

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?