new year's... focus?
New Year again. When I was younger, my family used to go to our aunt's and uncle's house nearby for New Year's Eve. We didn't do the exact same thing every year, although I do remember one very rousing late night involving card playing, money being exchanged, and my uncle who kept digging into a magic box for more coins when he ran low. Sometimes we did share our New Year's resolutions; my high school self stood in the circle awkwardly and even more awkwardly stated my intentions to do well in school that year. Wow. The nerdiness of that is just... painful.
Anyway, I didn't make resolutions to really keep them for the rest of the year, more just to say something according to good ol' American tradition. I stopped making them until pretty recently. Last year for some reason, I landed on the somewhat oblique and abstract resolution to "Let go of bitterness." In all openness I was aware that it sounded somewhat cool to tell people that. (Oh, you're taking up jogging in the new year? I'm letting go of bitterness in my life, learning deep breathing meditation, and apologizing to anyone I have ever wronged in my life. EVER.) But to be honest, it was a personal challenge to myself to spend the next year trying to make peace and let go of grudges.
I did actually think about my resolution throughout the entire year, and even more surprisingly, did make some inroads towards my goal. Some were little, some were very big, and some probably could have gone a lot farther than they did. But looking back over the past year in this area, I do see a good amount of growth, and I'm hoping, the start of a habit of living.
So in the tradition of last year, I have made a similar resolution this year. I am not planning on sharing it in the interest of preventing my pride from expanding. I actually think that "resolution" isn't the right word for it; I like "focus" better, since that's really what I'm doing. I'm focusing on this area during this year, and challenging myself to grow and become a better person.
However, I have made some regular New Year's resolutions which I will describe for you here:
Anyway, I didn't make resolutions to really keep them for the rest of the year, more just to say something according to good ol' American tradition. I stopped making them until pretty recently. Last year for some reason, I landed on the somewhat oblique and abstract resolution to "Let go of bitterness." In all openness I was aware that it sounded somewhat cool to tell people that. (Oh, you're taking up jogging in the new year? I'm letting go of bitterness in my life, learning deep breathing meditation, and apologizing to anyone I have ever wronged in my life. EVER.) But to be honest, it was a personal challenge to myself to spend the next year trying to make peace and let go of grudges.
I did actually think about my resolution throughout the entire year, and even more surprisingly, did make some inroads towards my goal. Some were little, some were very big, and some probably could have gone a lot farther than they did. But looking back over the past year in this area, I do see a good amount of growth, and I'm hoping, the start of a habit of living.
So in the tradition of last year, I have made a similar resolution this year. I am not planning on sharing it in the interest of preventing my pride from expanding. I actually think that "resolution" isn't the right word for it; I like "focus" better, since that's really what I'm doing. I'm focusing on this area during this year, and challenging myself to grow and become a better person.
However, I have made some regular New Year's resolutions which I will describe for you here:
- Put things away when I am done with them -- I would say "be more organized" or "be neater" but this statement really boils down the reasons why my desk area is messy. It's because I take something out and I just leave it out. I don't take the time to put it back. It really should be immediately when I am done with whatever doodad I was wanting to take out in the first place.
- Keep track of what I spend -- I spent an entire evening making a very complicated looking Excel spreadsheet with many sheets and pages and even colorful pie graphs! Just to be clear, I am horrible at managing my money and I don't save or anything. Quite horrendous. I am hoping that this colorful fun-looking spreadsheet will make me more interested in seeing where my money goes and into what category. Yes they are color coded and have borders around them. I am proud.
- Give my seat up for people on the T -- Well, not just anyone, but the people who look like they really need/want a seat: the elderly, infirm, mothers with children, or with child. I do sometimes give it up but I have my moments where I'm too shy to right away and the golden opportunity passes, and then it gets awkward (in my head), and then I just don't offer at all. My goal is to not be afraid to offer my seat. I'm weird that way.
