Resolve

Are you feeling hopeful with the ushering in of a new year? Have you written resolutions? I've spent the better part of the past two days making unedited lists of things I'd like to do this year.

Knit a sweater for Coco. Exercise more. Write every day. Stop looking backward so much and start looking forward much more. Be present with my kids. Improve my wardrobe. Konmari the entire house. Be good to myself. Move overseas again. Read at least two books per month. Drink more tea. Plan meals and budget. Drink less alcohol. Paint my nails and burn candles and take baths and do face masks more. Keep the house clean. Re-write the negative train of thought chugging through my head. Go for walks. Take the kids to the library.

Once I started writing out lists, the ideas kept flowing on and on. It all seems entirely impossible and yet completely doable.

As any smart coach or goal-setting guru will tell you, it's best to keep the really juicy resolutions to oneself, but I'm genuinely surprised at how New Years-ey I feel this year. I don't think you can be much more New Years-ey than buying a brand new pair of running shoes on January 1st, and that's exactly what I did yesterday. I had been toying with the idea of joining the YMCA (yet again) and it dawned on me as I stood there, scanning the red tag clearance shoes at the Rack: It's never going to happen! I will never join the YMCA again because I will never feel comfortable at the YMCA. Sure, it has all the trappings of a nice place to go. Sauna, treadmills and ellipticals, locker rooms with showers. But no, never. It is 2018 and I am finally done thinking that some day I will love the Y. So instead, I bought a pair of Nike running shoes and I am going to get out there (just as soon as all the ice melts;) and run three times per week. I also resolve to get out all of my old Pilates and Yoga DVDs and give them a whirl right here in my living room. What else could possibly be the point of living in a house this big?!

So there you have it. Resolutions are funny. Resolutions seem inherently foolish. And yet, I can't help but want to make them. To make resolutions is to be hopeful and affirm the idea that it's never too late and that we can always start again. I have to say, it does make me disproportionately happy to see my painted fingernails skipping across the keys of my keyboard right now. And the longer I live in car-based America and continue to pack on the pounds well beyond my comfort zone, I realize (for the nth time!) that this is it. We have only the present, my dears. No better time than now to write out lists and declarations of what might make our current moment on this planet a bit better, and then do all the things.

So happy new year to you! May you find the fortitude to follow through on all of your resolutions this year. And may you also have an easy time letting go of mistakes and picking up and starting again should you falter. That's the real resolution, after all. Here's to doing all the things (Not to be confused with doing it all;) and always getting back up if we fall! Welcome, 2018. xoxoxo