Resolutions

A new year is fast approaching. I keep hearing people whisper about resolutions. I like resolutions, but putting them off until a new year has never worked for me. There is too much pressure or something like it. And I’m impatient. If I know I need to make a change or adjustment in my life, I’m anxious to make it. Get it over with. Why wait? I do this in my writing, as well. If I am working on a first draft, for example, and pick up on something that isn’t working, I tackle the problem right away, before I continue on with the draft.

So, the minute our holiday guests left this morning, I resolved to stop inhaling sugar like a vacuum cleaner gone amuck. The minute the suitcases rolled out the door, I began the struggle back to my pre-holiday discipline. Goodbye pies. Adios cookies. See you later, sneaky little candies acting so tiny and innocent. Why wait?

This doesn’t mean that I don’t harbor hopes for 2010. Hopes are different than resolutions. I might make an in the moment resolution to try some new yoga move, for example, but I hope that some time during 2010 I will get to the point where I can execute that move without feeling like my spine is going to come apart. I might make a resolution to devote more time to reading, to reach the bottom of my pile of “waiting to be read” books sooner rather than later, but I hope to find a way to sleep less in 2010 so that I can accomplish this. And, I hope (probably irrationally) to finish my new work in progress by this time next year (never mind that I just started it).

But enough about me. What are your resolutions and hopes for 2010?