2011, Hello to a Better Me! (fingers crossed)

Happy New Year!

Wow, time flies, has it really been 11 years since our Y2K scare?  Is it already time to confront last year’s lack of follow through?  Do I have to make more resolutions?  The pressure!

This year I took a moment to silently reflect on my Ghost of Resolutions Past.  As I sat, dully looking out my apartment window, I first became aware of my annual disillusionments of somehow becoming a new and better person.  No, I would not become an early riser and no I wouldn’t stop needlessly judging people.  Had I been setting my New Year goals at an altitude far beyond my reach? I pictured myself, a lean and tan rockclimber, without a crotch-harness, stretching for the next jagged rock ledge and falling to my death. What support had I asked for or provided myself with along the way?  I kept my resolutions a secret between me and my diary and anyone who would listen. It’s quite the let down that written pages do not keep you accountable, umm besides legal documents used in court.   Discouraged I still would not subscribe to the notion that resolutions weren’t worth making.  I still had hope that maybe this year it’d be different.  I decided to do some research, an arsenal of facts to guide this year’s optimistic objectives.

I discovered;

A)      I had a history of making highly unattainable resolutions:

1996, “I will meet J.T.T. and he’ll fall in love with me!” – FAIL

1999, “I will grow boobs!” – FAIL

2001, “I will not get grounded all year!”- FAIL

2004, “I’ll study harder and get better grades!” – FAIL

2006, “I’ll drink less and stop spending so much money on going out!” – FAIL

2008, “I’ll become fluent in Spanish!” – FAIL

Last year’s resolution was “I will get published!”  Considering I didn’t really write anything I’d say that was a fail, unless you count the fact that some obscure online magazine in Belgium published one of my blogs! 

B)      Wikipedia states, “ Recent research shows that while 52% of participants in a resolution study were confident of success with their goals, only 12% actually achieved their goals. A separate study in 2007 by Richard Wisemen from the University of Bristol showed that 78% of those who set New Year resolutions fail, and those who succeed have 5 traits in common.^[3] Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, (a system where small measurable goals are being set; such as, a pound a week, instead of saying “lose weight”), while women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.”^[

Well clearly I knew what I had to do.  Create realistic goals and find someone to help keep me accountable.  By writing this blog I have already enlisted readers in aiding my quest to be a better person in 2011. Now it was time to come up with a resolution.  But how to choose!?  I began my list… and then it dawned on me, like cuddly kittens maybe the more goals the merrier!  I’d make a list of 15 resolutions and only have to actually fulfill 5! And every one after that would just be evidence of how amazing I truly am in 2011!  This would be the best year of resolutions ever!

This 2011 I will:

1)      Help the animals at my local shelter

2)      Read more

3)      Send my niece and nephew more cards/post cards/letters/things

4)      Meet and befriend a true Native American

5)      Take a writing class

6)      Go to yoga at least once a week (vacations excluded)

7)      See more foreign films

8)      Make more money (U.S. Currency)

9)      Travel somewhere new

10)   Do my laundry before running out of clean underwear (this should be someone else’s resolution too, you know who you are!)

11)   Get to know my neighbors

12)   Drink more water

13)   Pay parking tickets on time

14)   Complete the 30 day shred!

15)   Go to the dentist

Feel free to share your resolutions with me… I will be your harness.