I have always been lousy about keeping resolutions. Oh, sure, I’m always super excited about making them. That’s the easy and fun part. Imagine how your life could be different if only you, say, spend every minute of your free time at the gym or never again eat any products made with refined sugar. I wrote a short story on the subject of a person who can’t seem to stop making resolutions (you can find it in In One Year and Out the Other), and while she had over three hundred of them (I’ve never quite been that bad), I will say that my list of resolutions is usually pretty long.
Here’s a sampling of some of the fun ones: Travel to Japan, Adopt a Dog, Buy a House, Watch Highlights of Dancing With Stars so I can Keep Up in a Conversation With Mom, Learn To Salsa, Try Some New Food Even at a Restaurant You’ve Been Going to For Years (i.e. stop ordering the EXACT same thing every time), Learn to Cook Something that Doesn’t Involve a Can of Soup/Ready Mix/and/or a Take Out Menu, and the related – Actually Cook Something Seen on a Cooking Show Instead of Just Watching Them and Getting Hungry.
Then there are also the not-so-fun ones: Go to the Gym More than Once in Ten Years, Quit Watching Shows That Make You Want To Eat, Vacuum Regularly and Not Just When Company is Coming Over, Pay Down Credit Cards Even the Ones You Don’t Count in Your Accounting Like Gap and Macy’s, Stop Spending So Much at the Dry Cleaners, and the related, Do More Ironing.
My list of resolutions is usually about ten or twelve things, and a lot of the same ones keep popping up over and over again. At the end of the year I’ll usually have accomplished at least two of them, usually the easier and cheaper ones (Dancing with the Stars? Check) but not the rest (Salsa? Not yet). It may seem a very inefficient way to sort through the clutter of one’s life, but I do eventually get some things done (not the ironing, but I did pay down my credit cards! Even the Gap one). And at one time, writing a novel was on that list, and it stayed on my list for years. But eventually, I did that one, too. Not just once, but several times over. So I have hope for Japan, yet. The gym? Not so much.
So here’s my question to all of you: What’s been the toughest resolution you’ve actually kept?
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5 comments:
I can honestly say I've never made a New Year's resolution. This year, however, I did decide to "give" myself something for Christmas. I gifted myself a better ass. Every day since the
25th I've been doing exercises specifically targeting my derrier. And when I don't feel like it I just tell myself, "But it was your gift to yourself, don't you deserve it?" And I do! So much better than a resolution to get in shape.
J
Cara, a lot of these sound VERY familiar, to the point that I'm a little creeped out.
A few years ago, I couldn't lose the weight after having a baby, so I made a resolution to run two miles every day. I've pretty much stuck to it. I wish I'd thought of gifting myself a better ass, but no, I was just running. :)
Hi, Cara. I hope you get round to visiting Japan this year.
I've kept two tough resolutions (though not in the same year--that'd be crazy). One was to finish writing my first book. The other was the dreaded gym thing. Now that I do go to the gym regularly, my new resolution is to train harder on the treadmill and not just catch up on gossip magazines.
Happy New Year to you all!
Vanessa
Not so much a resolution, but I've tried to stick to this eat healthier state of mind, and during the holidays I've totally thrown it out the window. :)
I'm too lazy to even make a new years resolution, let alone stick to one!
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