At this time of year, New Year's resolution blogs abound. Endless lists of things people vow to do over the coming year can be found at every turn. I confess that there is something quite compelling about examining the corners of one's life as the calendar comes to its final page. Perhaps it is mere habit, or the need to keep up with the Joneses--who, after all, are busy resolving to lose weight and take that vacation they've talked about for years. Either way, come New Year's one is hard pressed not to take stock of the three hundred days behind--and ahead.
Last year I blogged about my NON-resolution for 2006, and that is where my mind drifts when running a mental abacus of how the year went. What's a non-resolution? For those not inclined to read the blog in question to find out (which, I suspect, represents most), I resolved to NOT do anything.
To that end, 2006 was a wild and smashing success. As suspected, it was easier to do nothing about resolutions than to do something. Thus, I did not bother with any fad diets (and still gained and lost the same ten pounds three times over), I was not too busy to stop and play with my toddler, and was partly successful in not worrying over things I have no control over anyway. The only hiccup on my non-resolution list: the promise not to get angry when cut off on the highway. Fate saw fit to help me with this goal by leaving me without a car for over half the year. Lesson learned, filed under the category of, "Be Careful What You Wish For."
Granted, this doesn't mean I accomplished nothing all year. I changed religions, adopted a child, got a novel contracted for publishing, had two other pieces of writing published, judged two writing competitions, and became editor for a new flash fiction publication (MysteryAuthors.com's Minute Mystery, a quarterly webzine). Most important, I became a happier person. I suspect many of these accomplishments were made possible by none other than my non-resolution; by vowing not to worry, fret, or belittle myself, this opened the door for personal energies to fund my life's pursuits.
That being the case, I've decided to vow my non-resolution for 2007. I can't wait to see what doing nothing brings to my life for the coming year.
