Day One

Ah, January. A new month, a fresh start to a new year. This is the time when we are encouraged to make goals, resolutions, and commitments. In years past, I have deliberately not made resolutions for a variety of reasons. For one, a year is a long time to commit to something. Sure it feels manageable when brainstorming all the possibilities or, perhaps more likely, regretting the last two months of seasonal indulgence; but attempting to adhere to some vague intention for a whole year, such "I'll be healthier", "I'll exercise more", or "I'll drink less", is so arbitrary that it seems to me  you are setting yourself up for failure.  The pessimist in me is not about New Year's Resolutions. The irony in all this, obviously, is that I have essentially set into motion mini-resolutions each month.  Now a month is more realistic, for me anyway, but for some people a week or even a day is more their speed. Anyone ever try to quit smoking? That process starts as a new commitment every five to thirty minutes.  So clearly, the optimist in me is about realistic goals: spans of time that allow you to succeed, hopefully harnessing the thrill of success to push you forward to your next goal.

That said, and as you know, there a lot of things I am constantly telling myself I need to start, or do more often, or not do as much, or not stress out about, etc, etc, etc. This happens at all times of the year, however similar to New Years, usually in response to some recent experience.  This ranges from stuffing my face with the better part of a pizza and then vowing to become a raw foodist, to watching the Olympics and thus declaring that I am finally going to learn how to-and then become-a figure skater or gymnast.  Would you be surprised to hear that I have never done either of those things?

I had what I thought was going to be this month's project picked out a while ago. I had been mulling over the various ways I could execute it and how to share my journey in the process.  Then, yesterday I was reading a friend's blog (http://kerryluvcat.tumblr.com/) and I was quite struck by her method and manner of goal setting.  She is not only incredibly organized with her goals, but also amazingly committed to them, which really means, to herself. I was so moved...and inspired. I realized I've been dwelling a bit on 'being a better person' which has caused me become a bit of a Debbie Downer. I think maybe I have been feeling both sorry for myself and too hard on myself and - quite frankly - it is starting to irritate me. So this is my sassy "Goodbye!" to that (and the previous project idea) and a fabulous "Hello!" to something totally different.

In an effort to combine my love of realistic goals and the embrace the spirit of the New Year I am resolving to making 29 New Year's Resolutions. (Wha?) Each day I will pick one thing I want to accomplish and commit to accomplishing that same thing on the same day of each month for the rest of the year. For example, if Day One is 'Clean the Toilet' (it is not) then on the first of each month, I will clean the toilet. The idea being, that all those little things I tell myself I want to try or do, I can commit to on a regular basis for a small, manageable amount of time. My intent is for this to be fun.  The psychotic-anal-retentive in me needs to organize and plan such fun I guess.

Day one you ask?

A Self Portrait. I'm turning 30 this year, I'm trying to be okay with that.

I didn't want to let women down. One of the stereotypes I see breaking is aging and older women not being beautiful. 
Annie Leibovitz

Happy January!