To be or not to be, that is the resolution.
Have you broken yours yet? Maybe you didn’t even make one this year. I didn’t, but now, as I sit here wondering what to write about in the first column of this new year, I guess I’m going to be forced to make a New Year’s resolution. After all, it will give me something to strive for and since more resolutions are broken than kept, it will also give me something to break. Or keep.
Looking back on the history of the New Year’s resolution, I have learned that it’s not pop culture that has driven us to resolve to lose weight, exercise more, become a nicer person, donate to charity or volunteer more often. It was actually the ancient Babylonians. Back in 500-600, BC this group believed that what you were doing on the first day of a new year will determine what you will do for the rest of your year.
Since we rung in 2011 with The Boy suffering from a serious bout of the flu and tossing his gingerbread cookies all over the place, we’re hoping this isn’t the case. We can’t possibly be in for an entire year filled with Gravol, chicken soup and cold washcloths.
So, as I resolve to resolute, I realize that I don’t know where to begin. I could decide to be a nicer person, have a better outlook on life in general, stop screening my phone calls, be kinder to telemarketers when they call and quit nagging. Or, maybe I should read every newsletter that comes into my inbox, clean out my inbox, organize my office and meet all my deadlines. I could drop a few pounds, make it to the gym more often, walk the dog and lay off the potato chips. Or, maybe I could never go to bed with dishes in the sink, a chip on my shoulder or without counting my blessings.
What about just trying to finish my to-do list or stop making lists, which I can never get to the bottom of? Perhaps I could try meeting new people and making time for old friends. I have never smoked, so stopping that wouldn’t work and I don’t have any unusual vices so that’s out too.
I have so many options available to me that I’ve become overwhelmed. I wonder if those Babylonians were ever faced with having so many resolutions to choose from.
In an effort to find one thing that I have a hope of sticking with, I have resolved to ‘be.’ Be present in every conversation, be healthy, be happy and be here when my kids get home from school. If I can follow those few things, maybe next year’s ritual of choosing a resolution won’t be quite so difficult.
