I’ve never been a hardcore New Year’s resolution fanatic.  Sure, I’ve occasionally flirted with the ritual of “brand new year/brand new you,” but setting New Year’s resolutions usually turns out to be less about a brand new me and more an exercise in forgiveness for my lack of willpower altered goals.

Some people are great at seeing the need for change in their life, zeroing in, then making it happen.  Each year they choose a vice to eliminate or a healthy habit to adopt and then they by-golly make it happen. Those are some seriously motivated people.

Me?  Sometimes I know there’s something I’d like to change, and I go into the new year with intentions of actually changing it.  I really do.  I’ll be going strong in January and February, maybe March if I’m on the ball.  Sometime in April, though, my resolve falters and things start to slip.  So resolutions made on January 1st haven’t always worked out for me.

Then again, go big or go home, right?

Here are the New Year’s Resolutions I’d like to make:

  1. Eat a piece of chocolate every day.
  2. Sleep another hour each night.
  3. Find a way to write while simultaneously petting the dog making goo-goo eyes at me.
  4. Choose two “pajama pants days” per week – times when I will unapologetically sport pajama pants, regardless of who might show up at my door.
  5. Not only exercise my right to tell someone when they’re being an ass, but truly accept my right to do so and deny any urge to obsess over it afterward.
  6. Learn to grow cilantro so I’ll never be without the fresh herb that makes or breaks my salsa.

But let’s not kid ourselves, we all know these are pipe dreams.  I live with two small humans, one of whom has developed the ability to sniff out a candy stash in 5.2 seconds, so that right there eliminates the possibility of keeping a chocolate supply in the house.

I could fit in that extra hour of sleep now, if I really wanted it.  But when push comes to shove I always choose writing over sleep for those 60-90 minutes, in the peace and quiet, when even the dogs have settled down for the night.

My pajama pants time has already steadily increased despite the lack of assigned days, although I’m still slightly unsettled when people like my Jehovah’s witnesses drop by and I’m not actually what people around these parts call “dressed.”

As for #5 and #6?  Well, I’ve gotten pretty good at the assertiveness issue but the not-obsessing part is still a work in progress.  And I kill every living thing I try to grow.  So there’s that.

I guess that moves us on to actual goals for 2016.  (Deep breaths now, you can do this.)

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** Be more disciplined with my writing. **

For the most part I’ve been writing daily since I started the blog.  There’ve been times when obligations made that impossible, and I always felt a little squirrelly on those days.  Not writing makes me feel…itchy. Like I’ve forgotten something important.  What I need to do this year is harness that creative energy into a (dare I say it?) schedule.

Writing is important to me.  I deserve that time each day, and if I’m serious about bigger writing projects then I need to get serious about how I treat my writing.  Time to give my days more structure.

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** Set goals for said writing. **

Set benchmarks for growing Riddle from the Middle into the creative hub I imagine it can be.

Extend my contacts in the blogging community.

Be bold.  Be daring.  Believe in myself and start that new project that’s intimidating as hell.

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** Set boundaries so I can give 100% to my priorities. **

Saying You Can Do It All is a big fat myth.  Or maybe you can do it all, but you won’t do it all as well as you could if you weren’t overcommitted.  As for me, when there’s too much on my plate balls get dropped, and nothing’s worse than dropped balls.  (Tee hee…snort.  Dropped balls.  Boy humor.)

I’ve set my priorities for 2016; now I need to make sure those remain my focus.  Does this mean I might disappoint some people by declining obligations?  Maybe.  Will I enjoy the highly uncomfortable feeling as I tell someone “no”?  Not really.  But you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

And that’s it.  As BrightSide so eloquently put it, set too many goals and you won’t reach them all.  Of course, he might not be fully aware of my dismal track record with New Year’s resolutions…

So what goals have you set (or might want to)?  And how’s your track record on this resolution stuff?  I’m probably getting to the age when I should be able to do this sort of thing.

Good morning, 2016!  Time to start kicking ass and taking names.