I can do this!

My New Year resolution

I don’t know about you but 2008 flew by. They say time goes faster the older you get and I think they are right unless you are in a miserable long term sub job you should never have taken in the first place (because when you retired from teaching, that meant leaving the classroom for good and writing full-time—What was I thinking?!). I found myself counting the minutes until the end of school and could leave. Time in that case CRAWLED by. Anyway, I digress. That was 2008.

I’m all into 2009. After all, it’s been a whole couple of weeks with only 50 more to go. I sat down on New Year and thought about what I wanted to accomplish in 2009. Get a movie offer for one of my books? Write the next bestseller? Lose 10 pounds (actually I’d love to lose more but ten seems reasonable)? Exercise three or even four times a week?

Yeah. They all seemed great and something I should do. Then I started thinking—a dangerous thing for me. Do I control getting a movie offer for one of my books? No. If I did, I’d have done that long ago (with visions of accepting the Oscar for the best screenplay adapted from a book—my book). So I marked that off my list. Okay, I control what I write so why can’t I write the next bestseller? Move over J.K. Rowlings. Hold it! Do I really totally control writing a bestseller? No, if I did, I would have 60 bestsellers right now.

Okay, let’s get to something I can control. I can lose ten measly pounds. That’s can’t be too hard. NOT! I have been trying off and on for several years, and the only time I lost weight was when I was so stressed I couldn’t eat. You see, I love food and the word diet is a four-letter word to me. I have come to the conclusion if I can maintain my present weight and not gain any, then I’m doing okay. I have discovered the older you get the slower the metabolism is. Have you noticed that your metabolism slows down but time flies?

Then, how about exercising? I can do that. And yes, I can when I get myself psyched up enough to do it. But there is one tiny little problem—I HATE TO EXERCISE. Work outs—two four-letter words. I know I’ve got to change my attitude, but why write down a resolution if I know from the get go that I’m not going to keep it?

By now I’m staring at a blank piece of paper. I haven’t written down one resolution. What to do?

A light bulb goes off in my brain (all that thinking I’ve been doing has generated enough energy to fuel a light bulb). I won’t make a list of New Year resolutions. So I’ve resolved not to have resolutions for 2009. I have a feeling I’ll be much happier that way. Remember the possibilities for 2009 are endless.

How about you? Do you have a list? Have you already given up? Or are you working diligently on each one? If so, what’s your secret?