So, What Else Did You Think I'd Write about on New Year's Day?

Resolutions. Everybody thinks about them as a new year rolls around. And I’ve made my share of traditional resolutions in the past: Lose ten pounds. Be more organized. Read my Bible every day. And those types of resolutions have their place.

But they are so straight forward. And, the longer I live, the more I realize that life is not. It can’t be put into neat little categories; it’s not always either/or. It’s about balance and paradox.

So, I thought my New Year’s Resolutions should reflect my realizations. Here goes:

My first resolution, of course, is to finish my dissertation as quickly as possible. Yet, at the same time, I don’t want to miss the pleasure inherent in the process. I’m being given the time to intensely study a subject that I find fascinating and to write about my findings. And, I don’t have to grade any papers while I’m doing it. How great is that?

A related resolution is not to put my life on hold while writing the dissertation. I’m one of those Type A personalities, and when I begin work on a major project, it tends to consume me. Even when I’m not physically working on it, I can’t turn it off mentally. My goal is to put in a good day’s work, and then leave it behind when I shut the office door. (Suggestions about how to do this cheerfully accepted!)

A problem with being a Type A personality is that I’m always working towards some goal, and, although I don’t actually articulate it, I believe that “life” will happen after I achieve it. One of my resolutions this year is to live more in the moment, enjoying all the little things that happen on the way to achieving the next goal—a great cup of coffee early in the morning, a good run, sitting on my front porch in the evening with my husband, getting a call from one of my children, lunch with a friend. Mindfulness, I think they call it.

Another of my resolutions is to make daily decisions that further my long-term goals rather than ones that just give me pleasure for a moment but leave me with regret. Here’s an example: One of my long-term goals is to be as healthy as possible. I’ve made a vow to my children, and to myself, that the day may come when they have to take care of me, but it won’t come because I’ve failed to do all I can to take care of myself. That goal is reached only by daily actions—exercising, eating healthfully, taking supplements, keeping mentally active—you get the picture. Deciding to skip a workout or ordering a double dip of Ben and Jerry’s might be fun for the moment, but it doesn’t fit with my overall goal. But here’s where one of those pesky paradoxes come in. As I said earlier, life is not an either/or proposition. I can’t have Ben & Jerry’s every day, but life’s not about skipping my birthday cake, either. I want to be steady over the long haul but indulge without guilt when the occasion calls for it.

I’m sure I’ll have to continually remind myself of these resolutions, but I think they are definitely worthy of my effort.

Happy New Year to you and yours!