I've never been big on New Years Resolutions. I like the idea of them, sure, but I rarely kept them for long, and so years ago I gave it up. Why set myself up for failure? I can easily make a goal any time during the year and try and keep it. Right?
I used to write myself a letter on New Years Day, and a year later I would read that letter and then write the next. I wrote about what I had done that year, what I had learned, what I hoped or thought might happen during the upcoming year and where I wanted to be. I really enjoyed this, especially seeing the proof that I had changed. I had come a long way in a year. Once I got married I stopped though, just as I stopped writing in my journal.
I'm hoping this blog sort of counts for that.
Anyway, so this year I wasn't planning on making any resolutions. This last weekend when Caleb was out of town I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some milk for Wyatt, and also picked up a magazine, Real Simple, one of my favorites. (You know my addiction...) In it, in some random ad, I read a quote from Albert Einstein that says:
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”
Now, maybe you'll think this is crazy, but I'd never heard that particular quote before. I sat there for several minutes, stunned. It's exactly what I do! My OCD tendencies, my A Type personality, the way I seek comfort in ruts? The same things over and over, and hoping and expecting for different results. Frustrated that I'm not seeing results, that things are still the same.
Duh.
So instead of having resolutions, I decided I'd have a motto. And this year's motto would be to change things up, in any aspect of my life that I've been frustrated with because nothing has changed. Because when I look at it, that's exactly my problem. I haven't done anything about it. I've thought about it, talked about it, planned it out, stressed about it, but in the end I've done nothing.
Not this year, nuh uh!
I'm shakin' things up this year.






You go, girl. You shake it. Shake it like a polaroid picture. I'm excited to see what you do!
Posted by: Abby | January 12, 2010 at 09:42 AM
I really love this idea. I've found that when I want to change something it's so much easier to just get started on it then to think about it too long, but I still always get stuck on the "think about it too long" part. I may have to copy your idea this year, and then we can compare.
Posted by: Kjersti | January 14, 2010 at 06:10 AM