I suck at New Year's Resolutions. Not so much the keeping them part that everyone has trouble with (although I suck at that, too), but making them in the first place. It gets to the end of the year, and I'm usually just hung up on wondering how it got here so fast, wait a minute, wasn't it just 2007?
I think it was my mother who introduced me to the idea of Mid-Year Resolutions. They're exactly what they sound like: New Year's Resolution-type goals that you set in or around June, or whenever it dawns on you that the year is about half over. I find I like reflecting on the past six months and putting together some ideas for the next six months better than using the hard-and-fast date of January 1st for starting fresh.
So here we go. In the second half of 2009 (wait a minute, wasn't it just--?), I have some things of varying importance to work on:
Manage my moods like a grown-up. I woke up depressed today, and I used it as an excuse to act like an asshole towards my little boy, who did nothing except be a little boy. Depression is like flu, and I can let myself off the hook in terms of things like housework when it happens, but I'm still the adult.
Buy less red. Red is a color I love in the showroom/dressing room/package. But in my life, it usually just looks wrong, and--depending on the application--whorish.
Start dating again. Rob and I are going on a date once a month, and no less frequently than that. Even if it's just for coffee and a walk around Greenlake. (Even if it's just Netflix and cookies.)
Exercise. Okay, so this one is left over from New Year's. But until a few weeks ago, I was so exhausted that the idea of exercising was enough to make me cry.
Write it out. There's a movie that I really want to get made (more on that soon, perhaps), or at least written. So it's out there, in some form. And as I reflect on it, I'm afraid that I may have to do it myself. Which scares the piss out of me. I thought I left all aspirations of movie-making behind me when I traded graduate school for a short engagement. However, I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that my dreams don't die so much as disappear into the mental wilderness for a while, until something reminds me to send the choppers and the searchlights.
There are about a dozen other things I should add to that list (get the pantry organized for real, make-over the finances, eat more kale...), but one of the New Year's resolutions I actually got around to making was to give myself a little bit more slack. Besides, this way I'll have some pre-fabricated, ready-to-resolve "shoulds" for December 31st. I can pretend I'm planning ahead.
What are you focusing on for the next six months? Hit me with your Mid-Year resolutions!
