the delphic expanse

I love this quote: "A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other." - Anonymous

... but even so I still make a resolution or two for the New Year. I generally like taking stock, re-organizing and starting fresh on something that's stalled and this time of year is conducive to that effort. What about you? Have you made any New Year's resolutions? Any you'd like to share? Any related to your fanfic? Or have you decided not to do the resolution thing this time around (or ever)?

My big one is to stop skipping meals while I'm at work! I have a long commute and on-campus eating is pretty bad - so I often just work through lunch. I'm going to start packing lunches this semester, so I don't keep skipping.

Um, I decided not to make any specific New Year's resolutions this year. Haven't for several years now.

I have made them in the past, and always wound up disappointed and feeling guilty because I don't do or can't carry through on whatever it is I resolved to do. It might have something to do with that, for years on end, my resolution was to quit smoking, and as the old joke goes, I've quit thousands of times. I think perhaps I picked some things that were just a little too difficult for resolutions.

On the bright side, I did quit smoking about five years ago, even if it wasn't a New Year's resolution at the time.

Now I tend toward less specific goals: Try to be more positive; don't be so judgmental; don't "assume." That seems to work better for me.

I made a very long and specific list of "new years resolutions", but it's more a to-do list of broader accomplishments I need or want to make in my life and 2011 is as good a time as any, particularly as I have no definitive plans and a lot that needs to be done just to calm the whirlwind that was 2010. They all also have bonus points situations for the perfect outcome, but mainly because I was really bored when I wrote the list.

I'm not going to feel guilty if I don't accomplish any of them, but I did make one related to fandom; to finish a multi-chaptered fanfic. I haven't properly written one in several years. The rest were related to writing, collecting, cooking, conventions and fixing life, with a couple of wildcards like take up some regular exercise, start a family tree and retake my maternal grandfather's surname.

At the moment, I've only got one: "get my gorram Endeavour mirror universe fic finished."

And hopefully lose some weight along the way.

Mr Smith wrote:They all also have bonus points situations for the perfect outcome, but mainly because I was really bored when I wrote the list.

Love it! Maybe if I'd tried that, I would have stuck to past resolutions.

My resolution is to not make a resolution! But I have made decisions about my life. I'm going to try and find the right balance of work, rest and play (which I know everyone tries to achieve, but I haven't even tried in the last 6 months), and I'm leaving the past behind (which is the most important).

It just occurred to me that I asked everybody else, and then didn't share mine!

I've been pretty inconsistent with New Year's resolutions, making a lot one year then not making any another. I guess I only made them if I felt like I could actually accomplish them? Anyway, last year I made one that was unusual and not related at all to anything I had to do - and it was a huge success. So this year I decided to again pick something totally out of left field that wouldn't matter if I accomplished it or not - "learn to play the guitar". I've already got the one I own professionally restrung and I'm looking around for a teacher, so we'll see what happens.

I usually make five or six goals each new year. I don't always accomplish them, but I also don't beat myself up if I don't. *shrug* They are sort of a roadmap of the direction that I'd like my life to take, but a loose one.

Half of my goals this year are religious based, one is fitness related (<---that one I probably will accomplish, as I'm sick and tired of having a passion for fitness that I've allowed to go latent, I don't feel like "me" right now), one is related to writing--but not fanfic--and another for art. The one that isn't hard at all, but just a reminder is to practice active gratitude. (Personally, I think finding things to be thankful for daily is one of the biggest secrets to personal happiness.)

I try to make my goals realistic. When I was younger I would make a long list and most of them were just impossible to accomplish. LOL