Resolute

I normally don’t bother with New Year’s Resolutions. I view it as setting myself up to fail. Why in the world would I resolve to go to the gym when I can’t afford it? Or to stop eating unhealthy foods when I have no desire to? Or to go to bed early when I’m by nature a night owl? All of those resolutions would fall to the wayside by February. The going to bed early one probably wouldn’t make it through the first week of January, actually.

But 2010 has taught me a few things that I’d like to carry into this year. Not exactly resolutions, more like lessons. For instance:

I’m not going to wait for my contact Rx to expire anymore. I’m going to make sure I order them before it’s too late, because those puppies are expensive, and the eye exams are even more so, especially since my prescription hasn't changed.

I’m going to fold my laundry as soon as it comes out of the dryer. You would not believe how much irritation this has saved me. Sure, I’m irritated for the 5-10 minutes it takes me to stand in front of the dryer to fold the clothes, but since I’ve started it, the necessity of me setting aside 3 hours to fold 8 loads of laundry has dropped drastically.

I’m going to stop apologizing for things that aren’t my fault.

I’m going to brush my girls’ hair everyday. You’d think this was elementary, but they hate it. Consequently, I hate it. Thankfully their hair is very smooth and fine, but lately Atleigh has been waking up with dreads. So I guess I should add to this that I’m going to buy de-tangler.

I’m going to print some of the pictures that I take, and not only that, I’m going to hang them on the walls (Ok, so this is really more of a resolution... we’ll see if I actually follow through).

I’m not going to take responsibility for other peoples’ actions and feelings. This kind of goes hand in hand with the no more apologies thing. I don’t mean this in an “I don’t care how you feel” kind of way, but more of an “I can’t control how you feel” kind of way.

I’m never, ever going to let my husband have the dictionary when we play Scrabble. Never again. Because he beat me. Cheater.

I’m going to appreciate my family more.

And I’m not going to feel like a failure if I forget these “lessons” sometimes (Except for the Scrabble one. That would just be downright ignorant of me). I’m going to give myself room to make mistakes, and to learn new lessons.

What do you resolve to learn from last year?