New Year’s Disillusions

Now that I have firmly established myself as an inconsistent, unscheduled, and disorganized writer, I am confident to pick up exactly where I left off.  Wait, where was I?  OK, maybe I should just start with now.

It’s yet another new year and I’m sure the health food aisles and gyms are bursting at the seams with those of high hopes and good intentions.  I, on the other hand, know the house always wins this game of inevitability, and I like to start out ahead.  So no sweeping resolutions here.  No schedule-morphing, habit-dissolving, life-changing goals for me.

I find unattainable goals to be one of the greatest evils.  We are taught from childhood “You can be ANYTHING you want if you put your mind to it.”  Unfortunately, with sheer will power alone, I could never be, for example, male.  Or seven feet tall.  It’s an optimism epidemic.

So, I choose to go the way of the dangling carrot, and set generally moderate, yet feasible goals:

I want to be nicer.  Not the nicest person who ever lived.  Not nicer than everyone I know.  Just somewhat nicer than I am now.  To others, to myself, in thought, and in speech.  I want to more often assume the best of others, and not the worst.  I want to immediately think of you instead of me.

I want to be healthier.  Not lose 100 pounds or run a marathon.  Just be all around, holistically healthier.  Eat good food.  Spend non-couch time*.  Cook a lot.  Read a lot.  Cuddle.  Laugh at life (not at others).

[*Except when trying to surpass your husband’s XboxLive Gamerscore.  Virtual improvement is still improvement, right?]

I want to read more.  Truly read, not skim.  Not read a greater quantity of books, but remember more character’s names.  Be able to recount more plot points.

I want to care less about inflammatory statements, and more about the accuracy of my own.  I want to care less about the bill after an excellent meal, and more about the tip I leave.  I want to care more about what my husband will think of my outfit on date nights, and less about my ever present and unsightly facial hair.

2014 is looking pretty doable to me.