New Year's Non-Resolutions
Happy New Year. Also all that other happy stuff this time of year that I wasn't around to say happy about. Happy that. If you got to eat latkes this year you're doing better than I am. I had a moment where I thought about making them, but I had already committed to coating my kitchen with splattered oil 5 other ways this December, and I knew there wasn't room for it on the agenda. No chestnut roast here too, though I did manage to eat bearnaise sauce twice in one month.
Which brings me to new year's resolutions. Because there's been all too much bearnaise in the bod lately.
I have actually been successful with this sort of thing in the past. I quit smoking in 1993 on new year's eve, helped by a horrible cold and a new tax on cigarettes that brought the price up to $2.00 per pack, which seemed like a lot then. My idea was to save my cigarette money and go on a vacation the next year. I never went on that vacation but we bought our first house the following year so the money went to good use.
But other than that, I'm just the kind of person who doesn't do so well with the self discipline. (Note sock yarn stash.) So I'm always tempted to make new year's resolutions, but then it would be the same thing every year and that's depressing enough without the blog archive to prove the cyclical nature of my lameness. Plus, it's all so boring and typical. I need to lose that 10 pounds I keep losing and gaining back. I ought to stop treating chocolate like a major food group. (Could these things possibly be related?) I really need to keep exercising. (By the way, it turns out that when I exercise regularly, I am a much, much happier, perceptibly healthier person. The amazing thing is that this seems to motivate me to exercise not at all. You'd think I'd have more constructive self-interest.) Pretty banal, right? Me and everybody else. Also, the usual knitters' resolutions: shop the stash, finish WIPs, etc.
So anyway. My new years' resolutions, or maybe they're just ideas...intentions, yeah, that's it...are as follows.
Keep eating chocolate like it's a food group and lose weight anyway because I'm exercising on a regular basis. Which means riding my bike to work tomorrow. It's the only exercise that doesn't feel like a total waste of precious time. I guess I need to feel like I'm getting somewhere...literally. The return of the light will *really* help with that.
Keep buying yarn when I want to, but don't do it just because I'm feeling bereft about my amount of crafting time.
Knit with focus and finish projects. I've been doing this for the last 6 months or so, which makes for lousy blog fodder, but I'm surprised at the extent to which I'm staying focused. I took some time off from Eliz, but she's almost done. I finished not one but two pairs of socks on Saturday. Let's not talk about the Xmas sweater, shall we? I'm actually considering giving up. But I'm cutting down on the active WIPs, and it's a good thing.
So there you have it, 2007. I'm not going to kid myself and say I'm going to do Weight Watchers or something. I've been promising myself I'd go to Bikram Yoga for the last year, but it hasn't happened yet, so maybe I shouldn't count on that. Just me, the bike, and a reasonable number of socks in progress. Even I should be able to manage that, right?
I like "Intentions" rather than "resolutions". A friend of mine is calling them "plans", which is good too. Less cliched, and somehow seems more achievable to me. Possibly because any and all resolutions I haver make go by the wayside quickly....
My personal intention will be to walk home from work more often, so that I too may continue to treat chocolate as a food group (which it IS).
Posted by: Amanda | January 01, 2007 at 10:33 PM
I'm so with you on the fiber buying being inversely proportionate to the amount of crafting time. I think my subconcious is all "If I buy it, that means I'll have time to make something with it." Yeah, not so much, but nice try, subconcious.
Posted by: Jenni | January 02, 2007 at 06:11 AM
I think having reasonable goals is what it's all about. It's good to stretch and challenge yourself to a point but it shouldn't be about failing and then feeling miserable. Good luck!
Posted by: Carole | January 02, 2007 at 06:36 AM
You, the bike, socks and chocolate as a food group. You forgot the most important thing.
Posted by: melissaknits | January 02, 2007 at 07:26 AM
Happy whatever right back atcha.
Posted by: claudia | January 02, 2007 at 08:12 AM
happy happy back and good luck with the bike, I feel the same way.
Posted by: Justine | January 02, 2007 at 08:27 AM
riding the bike to work sounds like an excellent plan. if i didn't live 35 miles from my job i would definitely ride the bike. like you said, it doesn't seem like a total waste of time.
Posted by: maryse | January 02, 2007 at 09:20 AM
Good deal. Mine aren't resolutions, so much as they're goals. My stash-related intention is to knit more for ME! That way, I get to use up some of those nice yarns I've been hoarding.
Posted by: Carrie | January 02, 2007 at 09:35 AM
It all sounds very reasonable. So funny about the exercise motivating you not to exercise -- same thing with me and weight loss; why do I think that a candy lunch right after a successful WW meeting is such a great idea?!? Happy New Year!
Posted by: Kathy | January 02, 2007 at 09:55 AM
Sounds like a great set of resolutions to me. Can't wait to see Eliz. And hopefully you won't have as much stress (which presumabely induces the eating of chocolate, driving of car instead of cycling, and buying yarn to avoid bereft feelings) this year.
Now, someone on the list mentioned how many nice worsted weight yarns there were in Webs and I seem to have a stack of ideas involving that weight of yarn. But coming to visit and shopping at Webs sounds like it would be a major money issue....
Posted by: JoVE | January 02, 2007 at 10:02 AM
A friend of mine told me on New Year's Eve that this would be the year of deciding. And in the words of the great band Rush, if you choose not to decide, you have still made a choice.
I'm totally getting sick of making the choice for indecision :-) Sick of wearing the fat suit and feeling like an inactive lump. I can't exactly ride to work, but I can get out the mat and do the freaking Pilates. Why is it that feeling better never inspires me to keep doing it either?
Happy everything to you, Cate. You're awesome, I love you, and chocolate has magnesium in it. Ride on, dude.
Posted by: Lee Ann | January 02, 2007 at 11:41 AM
Now, if only you could figure out a way to combine the sock knitting with the bike riding....
Posted by: Imbrium | January 02, 2007 at 12:08 PM
Those all sound quite reasonable. I always like to have stretch goals, even if I don't reach them. I don't think the similarity of your goals to other people's makes you banal, just human. Happy New Year! You've brightened my life.
Posted by: Lucia | January 02, 2007 at 12:18 PM
Totally. My main resolution is to "take better care of myself," which is extremely vague and all-encompassing. Maybe it's more of a theme for the year... yeah, that'll work.
Posted by: Kat with a K | January 02, 2007 at 12:37 PM
Happy happy happy! ;-)
Posted by: Cara | January 02, 2007 at 12:44 PM
Happy New Year! I'm not having resolutions this year, but I am having a "focus". A New year Focus on paying down debt. We'll see how it goes.
Posted by: Cheryl | January 02, 2007 at 12:48 PM
Isn't it dark by the time you get out of work? That must make it hard to ride home. I think I will start riding to work too (again)--in the winter I can manage to leave while it's still light.
Posted by: Martha | January 02, 2007 at 01:27 PM
Those seem like very attainable goals :o)
I've been trying to figure out why it is that while I like to exercise, I do it 'til I feel better then I come to a screeching halt. Then gain five pounds. Very frustrating. ;o)
Happy New Year!
Posted by: JessaLu | January 02, 2007 at 02:16 PM
Love the use of the word "intentions" instead of "resolutions" for this upcoming year. I always thought that chocolate was a food group! ;)
Happy New Year!
=:8
Posted by: Kimberly | January 02, 2007 at 02:44 PM
Sounds pretty realistic. Been doing some thinking about why it's so hard to change. Seems there are some neurochemical underpinnings to this that makes it not so much a set of character flaws, as an attempt to change one's neurochemistry. How could that possibly be easy??
Posted by: Laurie | January 02, 2007 at 07:52 PM
Sounds like you've got the right idea. Happy New Year to you!
Posted by: Riin | January 02, 2007 at 08:04 PM
I, too, like the word intentions much better. Maybe I'll actually think about some intentions for myself!
Posted by: Diane | January 04, 2007 at 11:11 PM
Mmmmm, chocolate.
If any winter is the time to start bike riding to work, it's got to be this one. No? Good luck.
Posted by: colleen | January 05, 2007 at 03:43 PM
Winter is the right time to try Bikram Yoga, and the heat just melts the pounds away.
Here's a resource that might motivate you to give it a try: http://www.bikramfinder.com
It's local hot studio locations and reviews - just the thing to help you stick to your new resolution.
Posted by: Tiger Beaudoin | January 07, 2007 at 11:55 AM
Happy whatever to you too! Surely one could knit on a stationary bike?
Posted by: Ruth | January 08, 2007 at 06:18 PM