Resolution Revolution

RESOLUTION

Some years ago, when I felt a need to change who I am/was, I used to make a short list of resolutions at the beginning of each year. It was the usual. And just as predictably, I rarely made it to St Patrick's Day. Even when I quit smoking, it never had anything to do with a new year. 

I haven't found anything I needed or wanted to change bad enough to even make the feeble attempt for quite a few years. Or maybe I just haven't cared. I certainly gave up a long time ago trying to change to suit others.  But, I was thinking the other day, if I wanted to change something or make a resolution to change something, what might I choose. Well, I'm forty, single, a little overweight and stuck in a job with no promise. I suppose there's room for a couple of resolutions.

1. I could definitely stand to lose 10-15 pounds. (ok, maybe 20)
   
2. I could stand to have a job where it would not be so easy to replace me with a monkey. (Need to send out more resumés)
   
3. I could most definitely benefit from the cessation of my worst habit - procrastination. (hmmm, maybe tomorrow)
   

I can't change being 40 and I am not looking to not be single so, I guess I have three basic resolutions this year. That's three more than last year and three more than I usually keep beyond the first quarter. Ah, but I have a plan, a new and rather unorthodox approach to push me past that imaginary boundary.

REVOLUTION

Most people who make New Year's Resolutions never make it past the end of March. I suspect half don't make it through the shortest month. When I was 24, I decided to quit smoking. It wasn't really a New Year's resolution. In fact, it was more of a spur-of-the-moment decision one night in mid-January. I put out my last cigarette and said "no more". I have never been one to take to being controlled and it seemed I was not only allowing something to control me but I was paying for it. 

Now, anyone who has smoked and tried to quit will tell you that quitting is not hard. Most of us have done it dozens, if not hundreds, of times. The hard part, really, is not starting back. (This was not the last time I quit smoking but it did last for a couple of years.)

We all know that saying something on January 1st is no more likely to make it come true than blowing out candles on a cake or throwing pennies in a fountain. This year, to better my odds and skew the results unfairly, I am going to implement my new resolve on February 1st, instead (not sure how this affects my third resolution), but this way, even if it doesn't work, I should make it well beyond the first quarter.