For some reason I enjoy the period after Christmas much better than the run up to Christmas. This kind of useless week where most everyone is not involved in the normal activities that make up most of their year. I always seem to feel as if some weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I have done what I have done for the year and now I am just coasting in for the finish. Nothing I do will make my year worse just as nothing I do will salvage anything I did wrong. A week of capitulation to the recent past I guess. All I know is I feel less stress during this week than any other I can think of.This year has been a particularily tough one to deal with. Health issues, business issues, and the personal fires that seemed to crown recently will cause me to remember 2008 with less than a fond frame of mind. There is no one thing or person I could lay blame to for this year I would just as soon forget. Negative things happened and I did not respond as well to them as I should have.
So moving on is all there is to do. Making plans to handle Life better next year than I did this year. And that is what I use this useless week for. Considering what went wrong, what went right in this year, and then coming up with an idea of how to proceed for the next 365 days. After 56 plus years on this planet, I have learned to not plan for more than I can possibly handle. I always make generic resolutions. Ones that if accomplished address my manner of living rather than my specific issues of living. Realistic improvements that can make the difference between a good year and a bad year.
But maybe I should step out of my comfort zone. Considering the forgetable year I just had, maybe resolutions with more bite, more specifics might be something to shoot for in 2009. The problem is when I do that and fail, as I always seem to, I add more guilt to a mind riddled with it already. But maybe this year I need to take that chance. I know my wife would love to know there is more of a plan than "I will try to do better." Shit, I know I would feel better right now, if I had more of a plan.
So, in order to come up with a plan for 2009 and rise to my first challenge (by Dawn of MDI) I will call January 2009, "My resolution Month". Dawn has asked me to join her in one of the "post every day for a month things". "NaBloPoMo" it is called. So even if I do not have something to post about, I will at least post one resolution every day of the month. At this point, I have no rules about what to resolve, but I will at the end of the first month of 2009 have 31 resolutions to work on. With that many on tap, I am bound to hit a few out of the ball park.
6 comments:
Your right the last week of the year is the morst laid back week of the year---a good time to think back, sum up, and begin to lay some plans for the coming year. For me its another week in which to finish packing up the bric-a-brac and get ready for the official selling of my house---and my immediate plans for the new year are to scout a new place to start over in. You all have a great New Year.
I look forward to reading your posts in January. I have not decided on a theme for my blog yet, but it is leaning toward the perverse and strange. Or maybe politics. But I repeat myself. In either case, I will look forward to the daily experience, and more so with a buddy to share it.
Even if you don't think you have much to post about, your posts are always good, so it will be a great month for you, blogger-wise!
Gary, Mac and Dawn, I like this week too. I'm a teacher, and this is my week to relax and clear out my mind a bit. The busy-ness of Christmas has come and gone, and I don't go out and do anything on New Year's Eve any more... and with New Year's Day falling on a Thursday this year, I don't have to go back to work until January 5! After a drive to Portland, Oregon tomorrow to take the kids back to their house and back to college, and a drive back on Monday (it's a 4.5-hour drive each way in good weather, will probably take 6+ hours each way this time due to snow) I'll have six days to kick back, enjoy the view of white outside the windows, watch the birds on the feeders, play my guitar, write, read, and recharge.
I hope you are having some time to do the same! And I hope you all had a great Christmas, and that your 2009 will be great as well!
There is no one thing or person I could lay blame to for this year I would just as soon forget.
I always blame Chimpy. Makes me feel better for a second.
You're right about the week after Xmas being almost detached from the rest of the year. As long as we don't have to make any concrete plans about improving things, I'm content to mellow out.
31 resolutions? No cheating and picking the easy ones like "not flip off lunatic drivers."
Yeah, this is a good week for coasting. Which is why I haven't posted anything for going on 4 days. It's also why I'm commenting from work.
You're on track - resolutions need to be specific; "Accomplish A by doing B, C, and D, by date X" and then you need to find a way to visualize/motivate daily, track progress, blah blah blah. I never do this; I should just resolve to gain at least 20 pounds.
The missus and I are instead putting together a family plan for 2009, incorporating individual goals, what we want/need to do for our own stability, the kids, etc etc. That will be our "resolution".
I'm so laid back I'm almost comatose. Lazy, sloppy, not very sociable. And my only resolution is to make my blog more accessible and attractive. I want to spiff up the Novel site and the story site as attractive as possible. I also want to lure you back to reading the novel. Your comments were so helpful and important to me--making a real connection with my writing is the thrill of my life.
What ever happens, I wish you a lovely, happy new year.
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