Saturday 2 January 2010

Irresolute




It's hard to make plausible New Year Resolutions, I find. At least, it's hard to make the standard variety (diet, weight, healthy lifestyle, stopping lazy overuse of the words nice, lovely, delightful) when the fridge is still full of NYR saboteurs, such as the remains of the (nice) Christmas pudding and brandy butter, the cupboard still groans with evidence of an irrational fear that (delightful) guests will go hungry, and the heap of presents still includes the (lovely) boxes of chocolates you haven't succeeded in sharing with callers, because they have the same excessive and calorie-laden remnants, and the same pathetically-familiar Resolutions. It's impossible to get rid of a chocolate or a glass of sherry after January 1st, have you noticed?

My past performance stands accusingly before me too: I toyed with the idea of taking up some form of regular exercise, until I remembered that the only regular element of this old chestnut is the forgetting to do it. And about 20 years ago, I said brightly that "this year I will get my house finished!" and I've been saying it ever since.

So perhaps I won't bother Resolving anything at all this year. There are many things I could resolve to do, but they are so basic and workaday that they hardly make the grade for the traditional earnest New Year conversation. Maybe I should just Resolve to do what I know I should do anyway, but do it sooner, cheerfully, regularly, thoroughly. That way, I wouldn't have two-inch grey roots. I would have a bedroom that looks like an adult sleeps there, and not a teenager. I would have a filing basket that looks empty for much of the time, instead of like this:




and the well-travelled box of items that live in the boot of the car would have arrived at their real destination in the nearest charity shop before they disintegrate, yellow with antiquity, whole families of mice living in the - no, I exaggerate.

More wide-ranging or unusual Resolutions are easier to make, although no one believes them - Sandra's 18-year old has stated grandly that he is not going to drink alcohol again until May 26th; he can't quite understand why we all fell about laughing at this, because he Really Really Means It. Lesley is embracing the power of Positive Thinking this year - let's see how that stands up to one of her regular wars, short but savage, with her computer, which invariably emerges victorious. I disbelieve my more imaginative ideas (Italian, woodwork, singing lessons) before I've even formed them into sentences, let alone uttered them, so I don't bother.

So maybe I shall have a motto instead for 2010: I Won't Bother, Thank You. And who knows? Maybe some things will get done anyway. Anyone want a chocolate?

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Come on, those papers are in a filing basket. Some of us can only dream of that degree of organisation. (Though now you mention it, the teenager and I both have teen bedrooms - and his is tidier than mine.)

Jan

_lethe_ said...

Take comfort in the fact that You Are Not Alone.

I am seriously addicted to chocolate and want to cut back, but so far (well... it's only two days) I have not been very successful.

I want to practice Qi Gong every day, but I keep forgetting. Some things take so long to become a habit.

And most of the time my inbox looks a lot like yours. But I did empty it today! So there is always hope.

judy in ky said...

I am irresolute as well. No point in setting oneself up for disappointment, I say.

BumbleVee said...

pass those chocolates babe... and while I nibble one....I'll just toss a few more unpaids on my stack...which at least is in a basket..and hidden in a drawer!

I wouldn't be able to make my mind up regarding just exactly what to resolve... it's too much like work just thinking about it all...I prefer to just be doing...or not..... maybe I'll have a nap now and think on it later... much later... oh, better go stir the stew...see what happens to me? I can't decide what to do in the next few seconds never mind the next whole month or ..gasp...the next year...

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

You have a Filing Basket ? you're so grown up .
You seem to have everything perfectly under control ( well , O.K. , there is the train arrival thing ) , that if you were to improve the execution of it all any further , you'd be seriously alarming .
It's just as well I don't live any nearer ....I'd disprove your theory that you can't interest anyone in a glass of Sherry after January 1st . Nicely .

Marie said...

Hm, lovely is my favourite, over used word.

Dartford Warbler said...

I have just found your blog and have enjoyed all your Christmas posts. Beautiful cats too!

Happy New Year.

Pam said...

I am going to get thinner. There. I've said it.

Boomer Pie. said...

You are so right...resolutions are bothersome. Let's not and say we did. I signed up to follow you because I like your attitude. Drop by my place for a new year's margarita and see what you think. http://www.boomerpie.com/

mountainear said...

Yes please - but only if you'll eat a little of our cheese. How we ended up with a veritable cheese mountain in the fridge I can't imagine.

Resolutions? Hmm.. Why set myself up for failure? This year I intend to recognise my strengths - viz: Know I am hopeless at detail and shall therefore enjoy coming up with broad, vague and wonderful schemes - which I shall in turn delegate to anyone potty and rich enough to make them a reality.

Von said...

Yes please I'll help clear the chocolates with you.
Resolutions,nah don't go there, leads to disappointment and then guilt.Who needs it?
read a blog the other day by someone who likes to have a word for the year..like resolve, mend,exercise, anything you like.
I don't go there but every year around November I start finishing all the jobs,projects, clear the cupboards etc and like to get them done by New Year.If I can get a clean slate it's great but even trying is good.Got most things done this year except the filing!Not qite as big a pile as yours but I do have 3 baskets.One day soon.
I firmly believe that when you get rid of things from your life you leave room for the things you really want.Works for me.

Anonymous said...

Paperwork. Urghh.Some love organizing it.Not me, though I have a system of sorts.Paperwork is fine when it's at work, but when it invades the home...eeeuwww. Why does it always seem so threatening and boring? The only way to make it fun is to scrunch it in a ball and let the cats loose with it! As for chocolate, now you're talking my language!! I resolve to eat even more of it this year!

Marie Rayner said...

Each year I resolve not to make any resolutions. I just try to be a better person always, and that's what works for me. I could never totally give up chocolate. It's just too big a part of my life, lol!!

Linda said...

Being a natural worry-guts, my Resolution for this year is to just enjoy things. So, chocolate (yes, please, as long as it's gluten-free); Turkish Delight (only bought over Christmas, honestly); the odd tipple (sometimes works better on a headache than painkillers!); sunshine (when it arrives); putting up with a bit of untidyness (which will be there anyway, so why do I stress?).

In other words, just to enjoy my life as it is, not constantly find fault with myself!

Maggie Christie said...

I decided not to make any resolutions and then realised that in itself was a resolution, so I was an immediate failure! Your filing basket is so much tidier than mine. Such a neatly ordered stack. I'll help with the choccys!

Anonymous said...

Wise woman indeed! To dispense with the words 'ought and should' are truly liberating, and they never worked too well as motivators for me anyway. Your superlative words - well, they're polite aren't they? Got to make some effort I suppose. I am truly impressed with your filing basket - I think it may have reached the stage where everything in it is so old and out of date you can safely chuck it? All the best for this new year anyway - you must do something about those roots though!

Susan said...

For the first time in oh ... forever the New Year completely snuck up on me. Normally I would make as many virtually impossible to keep resolutions in order that I would have lots to beat myself about in the coming brand new year. I (or the glorious and shiny new "We") have been so busy, life is so full that I really for the first time ever could care less about any 2010 resolving ... other than to be happy.

The cowboy has brought to my attention that my overused word is ... brace yourself - "totally" errrrgggghhhh! how awful is that ??? I am watching my tongue like a hawk.

Love the tiny dog (avec jacket and snow) banner. Much love xo S & les Gang

BumbleVee said...

did we ever know the little doggies name? It is so cute out in the big snowy field.....

Bee said...

I don't resolve with much conviction, either. Sigh.

And I would like a chocolate, thank you.

chris said...

great info on the diet industry's dirty little secrets!

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