New Years REVolutions

I have never been a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. Too easy to break. Too easy to forget about. Too easy to ignore. In light of this fact, I have decided to rename them New Year’s REVolutions because, like a revolving door, they come and go faster than I can get through them.

And so, sticking to my resolution to ignore resolutions, I present you with a list of my personal hopes for the New Year (in no particular order). Just in case you’re wondering, these hopes do NOT include “get to the gym more often”, nor do they include “be more patient with my children”, two typical resolutions that many people the world over, make. The first one is excluded because, let’s face it, it’s not going to happen (though, possibly, I’ll get on the treadmill in the basement more often). The second one is excluded because, honestly, the need to be more patient with my children is a need that goes way beyond “hopes” or “resolutions” – it’s a matter of prayer.

So, my hopes for 2013: (or, if you will, my “revolutions”):

1) To learn the magical art of balancing my writing time, my blogging time, my cleaning/folding/washing/picking up time, my parenting time, my volunteering time, and my reading time.

2) To finish editing my last 100 pages of my book.

3) To find an agent who loves my book and for her (or him) to then find a publisher who loves it.

4) To begin writing the new book that has been brewing away on the back burner of my mind for the past several months.

5) To organize my “desk”, which is really the Dining Room table, so that we can actually use the table to eat together as a family.

6) To actually read the manual for my camera so that my photographs get better.

7) To stand before the county governing board next Tuesday (without my voice squeaking, my words getting muddled, or needing to run to the bathroom) and convince them that we need a new library in town.

8) To clean the deep, dark recesses of my house.

9) To finish my stint as a Girl Scout leader and not to be pressured into doing it for another year.

10) To be generous and kind and patient and forgiving and understanding and non-judgmental with everyone I come into contact with.

(I had to add that last one just to prove that I know that most of these “revolutions” are unrealistic and that I might as well just go all out and add a ridiculous one because then I’ll feel better about the other failed ones because I already know that my list is impossible. But no, I’m still not going to the gym more often.)

There. I have stood before you and I have spoken. We’ll have to see, come January 2014, how many of these hopes have come to fruition. I’ll keep you informed.

In the mean time, Happy New Year one and all! And my all your resolutions keep their resolve and not turn into revolving doors of shame.

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