I’ve never made a New Year’s resolution -- don’t believe in them. People make them with true sincerity, but what’s the point, if they never work out? If you’re going to make them, at least make it something positive that will bring happiness into your life.
I do have a system for that too. It’s called the season’s list, for lack of a better name. You realize that there are actually five seasons don’t you? Christmas is its own season. So now we are at the beginning of the winter season. Pulling out the calendar, and all the files of recipes, books, places I want to visit, etc. , I then spend awhile thinking about what I am looking forward to doing in the next few months. Over the course of a few days, I start a random list with concerts, vacations, books to read, new foods to cook, new restaurants to visit, projects to complete, movies to see, upcoming holidays to plan for, and anything else I want to do. Once the list is close to complete, I transfer it to a pretty piece of paper and save it in my To Do folder. That way I look at it often.
Somethings on my list today: San Diego (to visit my sister and family), Mexico, Lucky Peterson at the Horsemen’s Club, two new restaurants, ice skating at the rink downtown, finish (really start) Jeremy & Dawn’s wedding album, deep clean the office, design the front garden.
It’s great to have a guide to plan for future happiness. Three months is a good time frame to get things accomplished. It’s not like trying to confront a whole year. It’s also flexible, things can be added or subtracted totally at my own discretion. I’m not beholden to anyone but me.
I told Amy about the system last fall and she made her own list. I was proud to see that she challenged herself to do new things. She would call me sometimes to report how she was doing with it.
A good reference for making the list is the past lists. I keep them and see what I was doing the winter of ’99. It gives me ideas for this year and also a memory of what my life was like back then. I’ve been keeping them all in a folder called Exploration, but I think I’m going to make a separate folder for each season. A place where I can keep articles, recipes, ideas. Because sometimes I don’t get a chance to do a season-specific thing, I can save it in the folder for next year.
On a side note, we went to see the fireworks from the downtown Reno casinos, which we’ve never done before. We didn’t go downtown, but stayed about a mile away to take photos. I was kind of disappointed with the pictures, but it was a fun thing to do anyway. They lasted about 15 minutes and we were home in bed by 12:30.
I do have a system for that too. It’s called the season’s list, for lack of a better name. You realize that there are actually five seasons don’t you? Christmas is its own season. So now we are at the beginning of the winter season. Pulling out the calendar, and all the files of recipes, books, places I want to visit, etc. , I then spend awhile thinking about what I am looking forward to doing in the next few months. Over the course of a few days, I start a random list with concerts, vacations, books to read, new foods to cook, new restaurants to visit, projects to complete, movies to see, upcoming holidays to plan for, and anything else I want to do. Once the list is close to complete, I transfer it to a pretty piece of paper and save it in my To Do folder. That way I look at it often.
Somethings on my list today: San Diego (to visit my sister and family), Mexico, Lucky Peterson at the Horsemen’s Club, two new restaurants, ice skating at the rink downtown, finish (really start) Jeremy & Dawn’s wedding album, deep clean the office, design the front garden.
It’s great to have a guide to plan for future happiness. Three months is a good time frame to get things accomplished. It’s not like trying to confront a whole year. It’s also flexible, things can be added or subtracted totally at my own discretion. I’m not beholden to anyone but me.
I told Amy about the system last fall and she made her own list. I was proud to see that she challenged herself to do new things. She would call me sometimes to report how she was doing with it.
A good reference for making the list is the past lists. I keep them and see what I was doing the winter of ’99. It gives me ideas for this year and also a memory of what my life was like back then. I’ve been keeping them all in a folder called Exploration, but I think I’m going to make a separate folder for each season. A place where I can keep articles, recipes, ideas. Because sometimes I don’t get a chance to do a season-specific thing, I can save it in the folder for next year.
On a side note, we went to see the fireworks from the downtown Reno casinos, which we’ve never done before. We didn’t go downtown, but stayed about a mile away to take photos. I was kind of disappointed with the pictures, but it was a fun thing to do anyway. They lasted about 15 minutes and we were home in bed by 12:30.
1 comment:
I have never made a new years resolution in my life. What makes January 1, the magic day to change who I am. I have no idea what events will occur during the course of the year. If I don't know what is going to happen as I live each day how can I plan how to handle it. Each event requires its' own solution. There is no blanket answer for each thing, so how can I resolve it until it happens. I know the things I want to do, but I can't say for sure what I want to do on January 1, is what I will continue to want during the course of the year. It is not an easy thing to look into ourselves and see the things we should change about ourselves. I know some things and habits I don't like about myself and think I need to change, but I probably won't. There are things I like about myself and make me happy and proud of who I am. I would not change them for the world. To change my good and bad would change who I am. I expect many of you could easily make some resolutions you think I should make, but then I wouldn't be the person you know, whether you like me, or not. I guess my resolution is to be happy and make those around me happy, but January 1 doesn't make that happen So I guess we are all stuck with who I am. Happy New Year. Love Jan
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