Happy New Year, one and all!!!! Allow me to be the first to tell you in 2015: I am honored to call each of you my friend.
Today I have for you 3 different approaches to New Year’s Resolutions, followed by a toast.
Do you create New Year’s Resolutions?
Some years I do. Some years I don’t. Precisely because of what happens to Judge Willa Carson in Cold Justice:
(Coming out Jan. 20, 2015!)
I don’t know, maybe you’re more of an optimist than I am.
When I do plan New Year’s Resolutions, I think this strategy by novelist Helen Fielding, author of Bridget Jones’s Diary, is a great one:
“I do think New Year’s resolutions can’t technically be expected to begin on New Year’s Day, don’t you? Since, because it’s an extension of New Year’s Eve, smokers are already on a smoking roll and cannot be expected to stop abruptly on the stroke of midnight with so much nicotine in the system. Also dieting on New Year’s Day isn’t a good idea as you can’t eat rationally but really need to be free to consume whatever is necessary, moment by moment, in order to ease your hangover. I think it would be much more sensible if resolutions began generally on January the second.”
-Helen Fielding
LOL! She’s onto something, right?
Maybe you prefer Lee Child’s quote from the Jack Reacher Thriller 61 Hours:
Now won’t you pick up a glass and join me in a New Year’s Toast?
May you always have a plan
And a couple back-ups too,
And if all those fail as well,
May good friends and books surround you!
Happy Near Year, my friends!!! Please comment and tell me what your New Year’s Resolution is — if anything! 😉
A couple NEW YEARS OFFERS for you:
Pick up my Diane Capri 2015 Calendar HERE.
First One’s On Me! Pick up a handful of free Diane Capri books HERE.
I made a resolution to live this year without television. Bets are on. Television watching has become a fruitless habit and time waster. I read a statistic that in the US, children spend an average of 28 hours a week watching television. That shocked me into a decision to lead by example.
28 hours a week!? Oh Joni, I hope that’s not true. But I fear it is 🙁 Best of luck with your year without television. You can do it!
Joni, we spent 6 months w/o television once. Good stuff: more family time, more books, more outdoor acitivities. Not so good stuff: I can only read so much! And the teenagers and hubby went directly to computer time to replace it. But good experience.
Diane, those are great quotes – but you didn’t say what your resolutions are! For me, I make lists and goals all year long, so this year I’m choosing a word to live by. Hmm . . . can I post my blog link here? http://jenniferjensen.com/2014/12/no-2015-new-years-resolutions-for-me/
Happy new year, and may we all have many pleasurable hours reading and productive hours writing!
One of my goals for the new year is to make more intentional time for R&R. That’s definitely a part of BALANCE as you mention in your blog, right?? 😉
I used to think New Year was something special and unique. However, with the growth of the WWW and international broadcasting I regret to say that it is all a non event to me.
At 1.0pm GMT here in the UK I was watching New Year celebrations in Auckland NZ.
It reminds me of a line I saw in a film, ( I don’t know which film) The characters were thinking of having a drink, on a ship, in the afternoon. One character said words to the effect that the sun was not over the yardarm, the other replied, “It is somewhere in the world”
To me the New Year starts here kin the UK on the 22nd December. The day after the winter solstice. Mother earth times her year around the Sun. Why can’t we?
Allan, you remind us about the power of perspective.
(Also, what’s the problem with having a drink in the afternoon?! 😀 )
Thanks for joining in my New Year’s toast. Best wishes for your New Year, which you are now about 12 days into! You got a head start!
I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, either. When I hear of others’ resolutions, they’re almost always these huge, unrealistic, practically impossible things. It’s fine to have goals, but make them realistic and achievable, like “work out three times a week” instead of “lose 20 pounds”. I like to make the smaller goals that I can measure and track for a couple of months at a time, and make into a habit. Also, when I miss a day on a smaller, habit-building goal, I can just pick up again where I was the next day and not feel guilty, but “breaking a New Year’s resolution” carries all sorts of guilt and failure, and all that crap is not healthy for us, anyway.
Tammy, I totally agree. You mention tracking for a couple months at a time. Lately, I’ve found it helpful to track things a couple HOURS at a time! That gives you about 12 chances a day to “start over.” 🙂
Happy wishes for the new year to you!