Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Resolutions That Matter

Happy New Year!! Right in time for 2013 and the shameless appeals to do better next year, I finished the book "Cold Tangerines" by Shauna Niequist. The book is a series of short stories celebrating the everyday-ness of things. So for example, appreciating the way your hand warms up when you grip a hot cup of coffee, or celebrating the rock in your life - the person who always is there to hold you up even if they are the one to make your knees weak. It's one of those books that will make you think with each word, each sentence and each chapter. I'm telling you about this book because it inspired my New Year's resolution. It made me realize that I've been having a hard time the last year being comfortable, you know feeling content and enjoying the every day. Worrying about if I have enough friends, if enough people like my writing, what will my life look like in five years, do I need a bigger couch, etc. I do things like this and I also do things like qualifying the best and worst of things without appreciating the just plain ol' good. And when I initially thought about my resolutions I was thinking I should resolve be less nervous, or be more spontaneous. But, quite frankly, when I was being honest with myself, these are traits of my personality, not a lifestyle change.
I wanted to do something that would help me feel better about the coming year, and then I finished this book and thought "ah ha!" what better way to start the year than by resolving to start appreciating what I have. So, that's what I'm doing today and hopefully the rest of the year and onward- planning and executing a way to appreciate the good.
I know it's going to be challenging -- it's going to take some work to start seeing and celebrating the hidden gems in mundane activity or completely terrible situations. And the catch of the book and this resolution - is that you can't do it retrospectively, you have to let yourself be open to the goodness of something when no one else can see it, in that moment. That's what it's about. Now, how does one do this you might ask?
Well for starters when I stop thinking about something better, something worse, something that's not right now... I can start living and stop waiting for things and hopefully, they will just happen.

So, readers wish me luck. Hope you don't think this is a cop-out, I'll be working just as hard as those trying to swear off cookies (which would be equally challenging for me). I wish you all the best in 2013, and no matter what your resolution is I hope it makes your ever day a little better than it was last year - because that's all that matters, right?

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...