I have a few, but I am not going first.
What are yours and, knowing yourself as you do, do you expect to stick with them beyond January
I have not written a short story since August 2005!
I WILL write at least one in 2007.
I resolve to not start smoking again like I did this year and then had to quit again. I also resolve to keep up with the treadmill workouts I started a few months ago and hope to lose 10-20 pounds.
I need to take control and start getting a lot more done at work.
However, I just don’t seem to have in in me these days.
For the past 4 years or so we haven’t been able to do up Christmas properly with the tree and the Christmas village and the floodlights and such because invariably, our Christmas gift buying budget grows to consume all of our disposable income. For 2007, I’m going to put about $20-40 per paycheque aside in an envelope which I will keep at work so that when next Christmas rolls around, I’ll have the money to buy the decorations and bits and bobs I want and use the rest to put into gifts. That ought to free up my remaining regular paycheques so that we can treat ourselves for a change. I figure I won’t notice such a small chunk out of each paycheque. Plus, it’ll be the first time in my whole damn life that I’ll have deliberately socked money away.
MindWife will not know of this until it’s time to do the shopping due to the sensitive and fleeting nature of money in the MindMansion when it is known to exist in disposable quantities.
Chances that I will keep this resolution? Pretty good, actually – I’m kind of looking forward to it.
I would also like to spend 2007 shedding, say, 40 pounds. Knowing myself as I do, unfortunately, the chances of my sticking to this one are not quite so good because I tend towards the “lazy bastard” end of the personal improvement spectrum.
Oh, and I’d like to quit smoking. Success possibility: As near to nothing as makes no odds.
#1 I want to lose 8 to 12 lbs a month. I’m starting Nutrisystem on Jan 1 (the stuff is already in my house) so this has a chance of suceeding thru March at least.
#2 Also I will get on my recumbant bike at least 3 minutes a day, gradually by increasing a minute per week. Not an unreasonable amount given how out of shape I am in. I believe I will be able to stick with this right up until my knee replacement surgery at the end of April. Which will actually make # 1 easier as well
#3 I really want to get and stay organized. This will probably only last until the end of January or until I have my '06 tax stuff ready.
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I will finish my thesis. I will finish my thesis and graduate. This is well on its way to happening, even if it weren’t a New Year’s resolution.
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I will get a good job, or I will find some way of making money that doesn’t require working for someone else (freelance translation, editing, tutoring, etc.)
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My boyfriend and I will find a way to keep our relationship together, even though he starts working in Germany in late August/early Sept.
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I will decide whether or not I’m going on for a doctorate.
- I will enjoy my new job, and strive to remain stress free, since I am now out of the classroom. (school media specialist job I begin on 1/2/07).
- I will gossip less.
- I, with my husband, will have more freaky, kinky sex.
4)I will continue my ongoing resolution to eat more healthily: 1/1/2005 we threw away the deep fryer, 1/1/2006 we decided to eat more fresh and frozen veggies, rather than canned, and for 1/1/2007 I think we shall strive to eliminate as much processed/artificial foods as possible.
I have a paralyzing fear of trying new things. Inconsequential things. The big stuff isn’t a problem: within this last year I did a job search from half way across the country, moved to a place where I knew no one, started a new job, and got married. But the thought of going bowling (which I’ve never done) with my coworkers for an end-of-year party scares me senseless. As does attempting golf with my coworkers, which was another work-sponsored outing, fortunately before I started here. So I think I should try one of the inconsequential new things. Although I don’t really *want * to and I’m not entirely sure how it would make me a better person. But I definitely get the feeling that somehow or other it would.
I don’t normally make resolutions, but…
#1 - I will continue this exercise program that I started about 3 weeks ago.
#2 - I will manage to finally drop these last 2 cigarettes each day
(if I don’t manage to do #1 and #2, I can look forward to a serious scolding by my doctor come my next visit in March)
#3 - I will go to the dentist. I’d better, since I set up a flexible spending account for 2007 with the dental work that I know I need included in it.
#4 - I will pay off most (if not all)of my credit card debt (this is much closer to a reality since I’m not smoking 1+ packs a day - yeah, all “extra” money went there each month).
I’m going to take and pass the NY/NJ bars.
- I’m going to do my homework. Period.
- I’m going to vote in every race that applies to me – and I’m going to know for whom I am voting and why.
- I’m going to keep lifting weights even when I’m in college and don’t have my dad right there to pester me about it.
- I’m going to keep a log of what I read.
My list of 2007 resolutions looks something like this:
1.) I will continue to keep a food journal for the full year.
2.) I will take the “8 glasses of water a day” recommendation seriously.
3.) I will lower my smoking from >1 pack/day to 2 packs/week.
4.) I will lower my Starbucks from >1 iced venti vanilla chai/day to 2 iced venti vanilla chai’s/week.
5.) I will enjoy going to the gym 3x/week.
6.) I will use the money saved from 3 and 4 to pay down some debt and spoil myself on a more consistent basis.
7.) I will find some peace with my life decisions or make entirely new decisions altogether.
The chances of successfully pulling off 1-3 are pretty high, 4 and 5 are iffy, 6 is anybody’s guess and 7… Ah, 7. Well, here’s hoping, anyway. 
- Yesterday I gave all of my credit cards to my boyfriend with strict instrux not to let me use them unless it’s for a VERY GOOD REASON- he has total veto power over my spending
- I will begin saving $$ every paycheck for next Christmas’ budget so that I won’t have to charge anything I buy
- Lose 20lbs by April 1, exercise at least 5x/week.
- Drink at least 4 glasses of water every day, and for every cup of coffee/beer/glass of wine/mixed drink I have, I will drink 1 glass of water (this will be the hardest of all to keep!!!)
- 7.5 to 8 hours sleep EVERY night
- 2 hours of “me time” every weekend where I can regroup, review the week, plan ahead, and think about what I want to accomplish
- No more than 1 “snooze” in the morning
- Be at work on time every day
- Organize my bills and paperwork so that they don’t pile up
I will walk more, including at lunch time during the work week. I will not let myself be dissuaded by (annoying) co-workers who want to walk with me. Chance of success: 80%
I will stretch more, both my PT stretches and at my desk. Chance of success: 75%
Pay off my credit card debts. Chance of success: 99.9% I am thisclose. I should be debt-free by September, from $33,000 worth of debt 4 years ago.
Get to bed by a reasonable hour, so I can get up in time for work. Chance of success: less than 50%
I’d like to lose 30 - 40 pounds, too, but I think that has about a 5% chance of success.
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I will save money from each paycheck to contribute to an apartment over the summer.
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I will figure out whether what I am doing right now in school is really what I want to do.
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I will salvage what’s left of my GPA, and hopefully bring it up to a 3.0.
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I will take classes that are interesting to me, not just because they are needed for my degree plan.
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I will give more time to my boyfriend, and become more involved in his beloved fSAE group.
I don’t do my New Years’ Resolutions in January, since I’m busy hibernating.
The last set I did, I held to, but they’re not valid any more.
Exercise
Cut down on my bread and processed sugar intake.
Move more.
De-Caf myself from coffee. (Six months I was good! Then I had my mom’s 80th party-end of school stuff to plan all at once. Curse you MOM!)
Continue on my daily regime of multi vitamins and supplements.
Do my yoga more faithfully, because when I do, I feel so freakin’ great.
Get a full medical.
Family Stuff
Play more board games and read aloud to the kids more. (after a Harry Potterpalooza for 04/05/06, I burned out and haven’t read for six months.)
I am personally reading Redwall to see if it will be something the kids will like.
Start a micro worm farm with the kids.and then it grows into a side business that enables me to quit the BS job to run it full time and it ends up helping pay for their college and my retirement to my own private castle in the alps.
Teach the kids basics of cooking.
Teach the kids how to be more self-sufficient. Here’s an ax, daughter, go build your own house.
Ethical Stuff
Continue on my personal vow to only buy clothing that is either Fair Trade, organic or Thrift, therefore there is very little guilt on my shoulders about the sweat shop conditions where the clothes are made. It’s been at least 6 years since I started this, maybe more, can’t remember.
Continue to buy books and toys from Independent stores. They are the heart and soul of the industry and care about the items. Cost will mean nothing if we continue to lose the indy stores to the Walmarts/Toys R Us/Amazons of the world. We will lose more than we could ever realize and the world will not be the same.
Make the decision to buy Harry Potter 7 from an indy store and know I will have to wait to get it and drive my ass down to the store and end up reading it days after everyone else on the planet, instead of having it delivered into my mailbox via Amazon at a lower price, because I really want to support Indy stores in every way. Curse you, Amazon!
Sell consistantly on Ebay. ( I re-home sweaters and magazines among other things.) and weed out whatever is possibly sellable in my house.
Instead of hording nonperishable foods ( as was taught to me by my Mom because you never know what Major Disaster Looms around the corner, etc) I will scale down the shopping expeditions and make and maintain a menu and shopping list.
Learn to shop smarter and not buy/by impulse. End cap shopping is like a mindfeild. Stuff that is on sale is shit that is usually Not Good For You. Stuff that is good for you Never.Goes.On.Sale dammit Eat Smarter. Shop Smarter.
Buy at least two organic items with each shopping trip.
No fast food.
Make purchases that support Local People First.
Boycot stuff made in china as much as possible.
Miscellany
Continue to improve my bowling game average.
Continue to knit and possibly attempt a sweater or at least Conquer My Fear of The Heel Flap on a sock. ( Which, when I do, I will then have a new fear of Finishing the sock and the Worst Fear : Second Sock Syndrome.)
I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. I’ll just put my all into 2007 as I did for 2006. And enjoy my life.
That’s what I tell people about my kiddie books too.