Thoughts on new year's resolutions (and a new blog!)

Since it's a new year (and a new decade), I thought that it was only fair to start a whole new blog. Well that, and I've been thinking about New Year's resolutions.

To be honest, I think they're kind of fun, even though, statistically speaking, very few people actually follow through with their resolutions. But here's the thing about New Year's resolutions: I think people often make one that's somewhat definitive and limiting, like losing a certain amount of weight, or not doing a particular habit, or cutting back on something. These are all great but thinking about resolutions in this way tends to set most people up to fail. What if people were to reframe the way they think about resolutions: rather than looking at a resolution from a deficit perspective, i.e. what we're lacking, which we tend to make very specific lists of since we're hard on ourselves, maybe we can focus on what we have or could have which tends to have less absolute answers. Like for example, rather than saying, "I need to lose 5 pounds", maybe think of it as, "How can I make my life healthier?" Yes, people still might not follow through, but the lasting effects aren't as shameful or guilt inducing. You just kind of get bummed that you didn't do something, rather than feeling that you failed at something. Plus, people might see their difficulty to follow through with something, not so much as a failure, thus being a deterrent to try again, but rather as a natural part of a process. Or as Miley Cyrus (ahem, Nicole) says, as I paraphrase, "Ain't about what's waiting on the other side. It's the climb."

As I'm thinking of New Year's resolutions, I decided that I didn't want to pigeonhole myself into making lists that I know I'll have a hard time accomplishing. Instead, I decided to make something of the year...literally, in the sense that I wanted to use my hands for something more than just eating. I'm not a very artistic person, and in fact, whatever I make, more often than not, tends to look like shit, but there's something about investing yourself in a project and being able to share it with others. I feel like the process of creating makes people a bit more reflective on who they are and on how they want to express their understanding of their selves to others. And for someone like me, who has a very short attention span, it feels great to finish something. So there you have it, my 2010 new year's resolution.

Peace,
Olivia

P.S. That's my very first honey wheat loaf of bread, courtesy of my new bread maker. It's a pretty lazy way to make bread, but it sure was delicious!