New Year, New Me

I end every year with by listening to the blues and having a drink. A snack of herring in wine sauce and some fresh baked rolls serves as a good-luck charm. I’ll sit in my living room watching the festivities on TV rather than mingling at a party or being part of those crowds that you see out in the streets. Every year I tell myself that I’ll do something different and the following year will be awesome. It never makes any difference.

This year, the year of the mighty Covid-19 pandemic and political unrest, I decided I didn’t care enough to watch the year go out and play pretend with Anderson Cooper as he counted down to the big ball drop. It was an awful year in so many ways and 2021 wasn’t miraculously going to fix it all. So, I went to bed a little after 11pm and slept my way into the new year. Yes, I still had my herring in wine sauce with fresh baked rolls as a good-luck dinner, and I had a bit of sparkling grape juice with it. Yes, I listened to the Blues, Elise LeGrow to be exact. I even made a list of resolutions.

How exactly do I plan to make this year a better one, though? Well, instead of insisting that I’m going to go to the gym and develop the determination to get fit and healthy this year, I decided I would make an action plan of things I actually would stick to with minimal development of greater self-discipline. Simple promises and baby steps that I could manage in my day-to-day life.

First and foremost, I would get my eating under control! Portion sizes would be restricted, and calories would be not counted, exactly, but minded. Eating breakfast but keeping it small and drinking my coffee black would be my daily start. Lunch would be snack sized but nutritious. Dinner would be a balanced affair with more veg and smaller servings of meat and carbs. That was doable. That was reasonable.

Second, I would write daily. I’ve already slipped on this one when days have gotten busy and I have the excuse of being tried. I’m doing better, though, and at least I am writing whereas some years I’ve completely neglected the craft I love. Still, here I am. Writing. Publishing my efforts, sloppy as some of them may be, on a website that lets me share my passion.

Third, I would find myself a work from home job that I actually liked. Something that would let me write or edit or teach in some way… but from home. I would need either enough pay from a freelance job to buy my own health insurance or find a job that offered it. Part-time was fine, since I have fewer expenses now, and using my own laptop was ideal. Yes, I could do this. I could. Right?

Fourth, and finally, I would do more with my beloved dog. I would take him out to play in the yard more. We would go on hikes somewhere away from the crowds and enjoy the fresh air. This one is easy. This one is barely a resolution except that 2020 kept us confined more than he would have liked. We both got chubby and lazy and neither of us want to risk coming across chatty neighbors on our walks, so we’ve neglected those. Still, we could do it again… get back in the habit.

Those were and are the resolutions I made. Simple. Easy. No miracles. No super self-discipline needed. That’s what will make this year a better one. Not letting myself expect anything huge and wonderous to come along and change everything. No, the tiny steps we do each day are what will make the difference and, with just a little effort, 2022 will be a brighter year. Maybe we can’t expect a completely clean slate with a new year, but we can take baby steps to reinvent ourselves. I’m going to try… I’m going to do it. I will. I can. As Yoda says, “There is no try only do or do not.”

Happy New Year! Here’s to a fresh start!