New Year’s resolutions to keep | Brenda Sexton

A friend was telling me about an article she read about New Year's resolutions with a different take on the annual appeal for self-improvement. Not only did it give us a good chuckle, but it got me thinking. But what happens when nobody shows up is that a tiny handful of people get to make all of the decisions. And then we get angry when the tiny handful don’t make the decisions that we like. The consequences of some decisions aren’t fully revealed until many years later, and we’re left to blame the bad decisions on a lack of foresight. Except now we’re five years behind.

By Brenda Sexton • January 13, 2010 10:12 pm

A friend was telling me about an article she read about New Year’s resolutions with a different take on the annual appeal for self-improvement. Not only did it give us a good chuckle, but it got me thinking.

I’m horrible at goal-setting and resolutions. I think it has something to do with my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, just-trying-to-keep-up-with-life way of doing things. I recently discovered through a “finding your strengths” study and evaluation this is actually a positive attribute and skill I can use to advance in life and help others. They called it adaptability.

But, back to resolutions for 2010, I resolve to:

• eat more potato chips. There are foods that are much worse for me. A bag of Lay’s these days supplies me with vitamins E, B6 and C, along with thiamin, niacin, phosphorus, magnesium, iron and fiber.

• exercise less. It’s an easier goal to strive toward, but quite honestly I’m not sure I can get less exercise than I do now.

• drink more. Water, too, but science keeps proving red wine does a body good.

• get a better tan. There was a time when I was berry-brown in the summer. I could definitely use more Vitamin D.

• pray more. I just don’t do enough.

• laugh more, especially at myself, but also with my co-workers, girlfriends and family.

• buy more shoes. I love shoes.

• eat more chocolate. There was a time when I didn’t care for chocolate. I’m changing my mind.

• listen to more music and listen to it much louder, especially tunes from 1980s hair bands when my kids are in the car and the windows are rolled down.

• kiss my honey more.

• get more sleep. This should be clarified. Get more sleep at night, not those siestas around 2 in the afternoon.

• sit and do nothing. I can’t remember the last time I laid on my back in a park and looked at the clouds.

• use all of my vacation days, every last one of them. Damn it, I’ve earned them.

• dance whenever the urge strikes no matter where or who is watching.

It’s a list full of attainable goals I think will make me a better person, and, if nothing else, add a certain dimension to make life more enjoyable for 2010.