My New Year’s resolutions.
I am not going to throw out meaningless resolutions, one’s that are nebulous (be a better person), unrealistic (learn to fly), lofty (achieve world peace) or irrelevant (knit socks for my kids). I want my resolutions to be real, specific and attainable. Otherwise, why create them. In fact, why create them just because it’s the start of a new year. To be honest, I kind of think New Year’s Day, as one of the year’s major holidays, is a joke. It doesn’t have any religious meaning, it doesn’t act as remembrance for a significant event, it doesn’t honor anyone or any act that took place. It’s basically to give people off from partying the night before and shuts down the world because of a change in the calendar, an arbitrary event in our lives that we have nothing to do with.
Anyway, making a new goal just because it’s a Tuesday is kind of dumb. People should make goals when it means something, like they realize they are too heavy to get into their clothes, or their short temper has landed them with a fat lip after arguing over a parking spot. But since we let the gym pass sit on top of a fridge for the last three months of the year, or let a new book sit unread on the nightstand through the end of the year just because we know we can get back on the horse on January 1, well, here are my resolutions.
1. Be a better person.
2. Climb Everest.
3. Solve world peace.
Ok, my real ones. And this is in addition to my To-Do list, like change the shutters, clean the attic and build new picture frames for the living room. And this is also in addition to basic principles of my ethic and moral code, like respect women, treat the elderly with respect, say thank you and please, be polite to strangers, and help others whenever they need it.
Here it goes…
1. Run my second marathon.
2. Sit in my living room twice a month, after the kids go to bed, and read a book. Do not turn on the TV or radio, do not check scores on my laptop, in fact leave the laptop off, and do not check email on my blackberry. Do not answer my home or cell phone, leave the laundry in the basket, forget about the dishes in the sink, let the kid’s toys stay where they are, put the vacuum back in the closet, and just read a book. From roughly 8 PM until I go to bed, sit down with nothing on except a light or two and read a book. Do this twice a month, preferably with a glass of wine and Patti doing it as well.
3. Do some kind of physical activity every day. Last year was pretty good with the gym, lifting weights and running, but it could be better. I need to drop another 10 pounds, and I plan on doing that, damn it. Something every day, even if it’s a little, is better than nothing.
4. Be more patient with my kids. They are young people, and do not do things on purpose to get me upset or frustrated, they do it because they are 5, 3 and 2. I need to be more patient with them.
5. Limit house projects to one at a time. Do not start another project until I finish one that has been started.
6. Do something as a family at least once a weekend, and it doesn’t mean being in the backyard together while I stain the deck or trim the bushes. Leave the house if it’s raining and go the mall, take a drive to the beach, go to the park, walk around the city, go hiking in the Blue Hills, take them to the top of the Pru building, take them on long bike rides, visit the North Shore, SOMETHING that involves all 5 of us and being somewhere. Our time together is short, and I need to remember that, every day.
7. Pack the dishwasher better, this drives Patti nuts.
8. Throw out things that I don’t need, even if I have space in my attic to keep them and I might need them one day many years from now. If I still need it when I am 70, I can buy another one.
9. Reach out to my friends at least once a month without needing a favor, advice or looking for someone to take Red Sox tickets I can’t use. At least once a month, get together with my guy friends and have a beer, play horseshoes or go for a run, play football or just throw the ball around.
10. Slow down in the car. And stay in my lane, the other lanes are not always greener.
11. Shut the kitchen cabinet doors when Patti leaves them open, and do not tell her that I shut them. I secretly love that she does this, because it’s a habit that she doesn’t know she has.
12. Be more still. Sit in one spot when watching TV, reading, or eating breakfast and lunch. Stop getting up, fidgeting, and generally doing things when I should be still. Sit still, damn IT.
13. Use the digital video camera we got two years ago with AmEx points that basically sits on the mantel collecting dust. Take more family pictures, maybe even ones that involve going to Sears or a photo studio and paying someone a lot of money to take it.
14. Don’t be so critical of other’s opinions, especially when it involves politics, sports, music, taste in movies, what books they read and how they treat their children. Also, don’t take things so personally when others make fun of me or criticize me about politics, sports, movies, books and how I treat my children. Don’t get so upset when I find out I was not invited to something, when someone cancels on me, and when I was not included in an email. I have friends and family who love me, care about me, and I need to trust in the big picture.
I guess I could add more, but what’s the point. I would just be getting too deep into self analysis and that is never good. I hope to stick to my new year’s resolutions but if I don’t, I don’t, life goes on.
Dave out.