Have you made a New Year’s resolution? I didn’t – but I like to think (as I am sure many other non-resolutioners do) that I am justified. First of all, I am still trying to plow through my list of 101 Things to do in 1,001 Days which is kind of like a giant list of resolutions. If I pick something from my list to make my New Year’s Resolution, that’s almost like cheating because I have clearly already set that goal for myself. If I pick something completely new, am I gypping myself of a chance to knock off something from my list, or will I be disappointed in myself when it gets to be February and I join the masses of people who have already failed at their goal? I know I am biased, but I think I have very good points here.
Instead of making one solid New Year’s Resolution that is asking me to make a major change in my life, I have decided to simply listen to my “shoulds”.
Over the past few days, I have been thinking a lot about this and I really think that this small little change has the potential to not really change my day too much, but could change my life. For example, as I was getting ready for work this morning, I looked in the bathroom mirror and noticed that I had dry skin on my face. My immediate thought was that ‘I should do a better job of moisturizing so my skin doesn’t keep getting dry’. A second later, a sighed and went to turn to leave the bathroom and go on getting ready for my day. Wait a second. I have a whole shelf full of moisturizers specifically for the face in my bathroom six inches from where I was standing. Clinque. Olay. Lots of them. And it takes, what… 10 seconds to put on lotion? Why not just DO it? So I did.
I actually had exactly the same thought about my feet, but I will spare you a story about lotioning my feet… you’re welcome.
Just thinking about how many times a day I have a thought that starts with “I SHOULD…” makes me realize how much I don’t do until it becomes a huge task!
I hate sitting down and going through the loads of mail that pile up on our kitchen counters for weeks at a time, causing a complete mess. I should just go through it and trash all the junk mail every night when I get home from work. It would take under a minute AND prevent an avalanche of papers from forming in the kitchen. Why don’t I just DO it? I should go to bed when I start to feel tired at night, instead of staying up because another episode of The Golden Girls is going to be coming on in a few minutes. I have seen every episode of that show and can quote most of it! I own the box sets! Why do I stay up late to watch shows I have seen 200 times and know how it will end within the first 30 seconds of the episode? Go to bed if you’re tired! I should write down groceries that we need to shop for as we run out of them. We already have a magnetic list pad right on the fridge that stays unused until it is time to grocery shop, at which point I write down everything I can think of off the top of my head. If I had a running list made, I wouldn’t have to wait until the next time I try to cook something to realize I didn’t know we were out of butter and now I can’t complete my recipe, or that we already had three unopened bottles of ranch dressing so I shouldn’t have bought any more. I should put my jewelry away when I take it off at night instead of leaving it around the living room, kitchen, bathroom, etc. That way I won’t complain when I can’t find my missing earring or when I have to spend 20 minutes looking for the necklace I wanted to wear and then untangling it from the other jewelry debris that’s been scattered about. Why do I waste time like this? I should stay away from the Ghirardelli peppermint bark that has been laid out on the table in my office. Ok, let’s be honest. I am going to leave this “should” alone because peppermint bark is delicious.
So instead of making the typical New Year’s Resolution - “I want to lose 30 pounds, I want to finally ask my boss for a raise, I’m going to be nice to everyone” – I am resolving to listen more to my “shoulds”. It’s a goal that won’t take time out of my day, may actually SAVE me time in the long run, and that I can’t be let down by, because there is no way to measure it. Maybe with all the extra time I have from taking care of my “shoulds” immediately, I can check off a few more things on my 101 List!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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