New Year's Resolutions 2013

I don't usually make new year's resolutions, other than vague ones like "lose weight", "exercise more" or "stop being such a grumpy depressed knob". None of these were very successful in the past, so I stopped resolutions some years ago.

But this year I've decided I want to achieve some things.

In my expert opinion, there are three five reasons why most New Year's resolutions fail:

(1) They are too vague, or are wishes rather than goals -  e.g., "lose weight" 

(2) They are specific, but too hard or unrealistic - e.g., "exercise every day" 

(3) They are big, sweeping things about an aspect of our personality we'd like to change - and that ain't gonna happen. E.g., "Be more patient."  

(4) They set unrealistic expectations about how our minds and behavior work, aiming to do something every day which is really only supposed to be done sometimes. E.g., "Be grateful every day."  "Practice mindfulness." 

(5) They are what you think you should do but your heart's not really in it, or they're not what you truly think or want.

With that in mind, I am setting myself a few goals for this year. By the end of this year I will have either: (a) achieved them, (b) achieved some of them, or (c) deleted this blog post in embarrassment.



NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS FOR 2013:

Image by Ambro at freedigitalimages.net

• Stop buying cheap clothes without trying them on. They're not cheap if they're wrong.

• Move off anti-depressants. I've changed my life a bit and no longer have the stressors I had before. I'm ready.

• Be nicer to my husband (wow, can I do that and the previous one at the same time?!)

• I've already started this one: quit Ice Breaks. They are evil and delicious and needlessly sweet and fattening.

• Exercise every week. As a starter, get back on the treadmill if watching a DVD episode on the TV.

• Keep the house tidy, at least so's I can have people round without panicking or dying of shame.

• Iron the clothes that need ironing. Don't put off wearing them because I have to iron them.

• Get something published. Anything. Anywhere. Maybe the article I already have an interview and notes done for, might be a logical start. Or the site that rejected my one attempt due to subject matter but told me they liked my style and invited me to submit more [which I never did, natch]

• Get the roof and stumping checked out. If they need to be fixed, set a timeline and make a plan to do that. (I have a fear of the house slowly descending into a contender for 'Houses From Hell' through our general neglect).

• Visit my cousin K who lives on the other side of the city - which we first talked of doing like, six years ago.

• Visit my grandfather again in New South Wales.

• Find a way to manage my need to have the alone time I need to recharge each day, without going nuts at my family to get it.

Yes, that's a long list, but they're all kind of related. In fact it's possible they represent one of those big sweeping personality change resolutions that's doomed to fail ("Be more disciplined!"). Ah well. It's worth a shot.

Have you made any New Year's Resolutions?