Resolutions

So it's January 1 - the day when most everyone in the world sets about ot create some resolutions that will govern their lives for the next 365 days. Only thing is, they usually only last about three days before the impossibility of it all sets in and they are abandoned.

I've done that for years. Set impossible goals and then abandoned them just as quickly. I even created a list of resolutions for this year. My list went something like this.

1. Workout every day. I had been diligent about working out daily for quite a while last year - that is until September rolled around, school started and I got lazy. So I laid off "for just a few days", I said. A few days became a few weeks. Then a few months. So here I am, on the first day of 2010, thinking to myself that this should be an easy resolution. After all, haven't I been working out all last week?

2. Clean my office (or at least my desk) on a weekly basis. Again, this seems like a no-brainer. My desk does get away from me, quite often. I've been trying to do this for the longest time, and I had a pretty good streak going back in November. Seems like this should be easy to keep. What's once a week?

3. Learn to cook. Seems I have always been lucky enough to have someone around who enjoyed cooking for me. My mother. My college roommate. My wife. But lately, I was thinking that maybe learning to cook might not be a bad thing. It might actually be fun. I like watching the Food Network - what's the next logical extension - actually doing it. And maybe if I helped a little more in the kitchen . . . .why not?

4. Ride my bike more often. Seems like the "going green" thing would necessitate this. That and the fact that, come May we will be a four-driver in a two-car household. And it would also help with #1.

5. Write more regularly. I mean, I do fancy myself as a writer. And I do have a blog. And I do teach for a living, including teaching writing. And I could use some extra money. And I should also stop starting so many sentences with "and."

Wash the car more often. Straighten my bedroom regularly. Learn a foreign language. Read all the books on my nightstand. The list became endless.

And as I went further and further down the list, I realized that there was NO WAY in hell that I was going to stick to these. Sure, I would probably work out more often, but daily? I was already making excuses for that one. And the cooking thing - seemed like a good idea, but unless you can make an entire dinner in the microwave and the toaster oven, realistically speaking, that was also going down in flames.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the reason none of us ever stick to our New Year's resolutions is because they are too regimented. They are always intended to get you to do things more often, or more regularly, or better than last year. And the reality of it is that if you really wanted to do things more regularly, or often, or better then you just would! You wouldn't need some list that you put together in a drunken stupor on December 31 to tell you what to do.

No, resolutions were not for me. Not this year. Not again. So I pitched the list, dragged myself to the shower and as the water streamed down, I tried to turn off all thoughts of improving my sorry self in 2010.

And then it hit me - the perfect resolution. One that I know I can fulfill and that would not only benefit me, but maybe all that I come in contact with over the next 365 days. And here it is:

Just live!

As in "just live your life." Live it the best you can. If you want to sing in the shower, then sing. Want to read more, then read. Enjoyed that experiment in the kitchen, then do it again.

Write in the blog. Or don't today. Get up and workout for 30 minutes, or 60 minutes, or maybe only 15 minutes. Play hockey on Tuesdays and watch basketball on Fridays, or vice versa. Go to the movies once in a while.

Clean the damned office so you can find the top of the desk - maybe not each week, but maybe more often than last year. Dust off the bike when the weather gets better and ride it - even if only for a few minutes.

That was my resolutions - just live. But really live.

Live your life. Don't just sit there making lists because lists never did a damned thing except waste paper, ink and time. Be in the moment more often. Don't just READ about experiences - experience them!

So that's my resolution for this year. I intend to "live" more. And maybe, if I live more, those around me will learn to live more too. And maybe, just maybe, I can finally work on no starting as many sentences with "and."