New Year’s Resolutions – Why Wait?

I was thinking about New Year’s Resolutions today and I wanted to share my thoughts on that with anyone still reading here.

I’ve always hated New Year’s Resolutions. I actually haven’t really participated in them for a long time (except J and I had two we made together a few years ago. We stuck to them…but they were also two things that were bound to happen anyway so it was really no big deal) and I don’t know that I really will very seriously again either.

J and I quit smoking in December 2009 (before the New Year) just so our quit WOULDN’T be a New Year’s Resolution.

J suggested we have a New Year’s Resolution to start smoking again in 2011.

(We’re a touch tired of fighting it)

But I don’t know about that. We’ll have to see. LOL

I was actually wondering though…if there are things I want to change about my life, why wait? Why should I set New Year’s Resolutions on New Year’s? Why can’t tonight be New Year’s Eve (and I’m more than willing to celebrate hard to ring it in) and start my resolutions tomorrow?

Why should I conform?

So…here we go…

My Resolutions for MY New Year…

1. Go Greener. I’m doing a class on it at work in a couple of weeks. Why not participate a touch more in my personal life as well as at work? And why not participate more at work? (I’m a printing Queen…).

2. Do something new and different every week. I’ve already been working on this some (as you might have read), but can I keep it up? Can I do it WEEKLY? Maybe monthly is a better thought. We’ll see. (Ok…I’ll admit it. These aren’t really resolutions. These are more like “Suggestions for Mercedes to Have a Happy Life”)

3. Once a month I will say “Yes” to something I would normally say “No” to. Who knows…this could take care of number 2 for me as well.

4. Put X number of $’s in my savings account (I believe in the privacy of money matters, so I won’t share the specifics with you, but you can trust me to be honest about whether or not this happened).

5. Take the World Food Tour in Houston. I’ve started already. So far I’ve done American, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Pakistani, Indian, Mongolian, Portuguese, African and Italian. Next up is Lebanese and a Turkish restaurant I heard about…

6. Spend at least 4 glorious weekends away with my love. Doesn’t matter where…all that matters is we do not invite friends and we spend time together in a strange bed.

7. Kiss in the rain at least once. It rains here a lot. Why am I so reserved about getting out in it?

8. Cook something that seems too hard to cook. I’m thinking some of those Pakistani dishes seemed tough…

9. Write for enjoyment (not on the blog).

10. Write more blog articles than in years past.

11. Get back on Body for Life and don’t totally stop once the 12 weeks are up. This is sort of a canned “get in shape” resolution that just about everyone does, but Body for Life is my specific plan and…the gym is a lot less packed now than it is the beginning of January when “everyone” has a resolution to get fit…

Is that enough?

I think it probably is. Especially for someone who “doesn’t do” New Year’s Resolutions.

What about you? Do you make resolutions? Do you keep them? Do you even keep track of them? Do you need to wait? Do you know anything that should be added to this list?

Thoughts and ideas welcome!

Much Love,
Mercedes