Of Mice and Men.....a New Year's Blog

“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

The things you learn when you least expect them always seem to stay with you forever! I wanted to start this post with a quote from Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. It’s an apropos quote from a great book and who doesn’t love Steinbeck. Wait. Don’t answer that. I’m sure there are a bunch of you out there that don’t. Anyhow, what I learned was that this quote actually comes from a Robert Burns poem “To a Mouse” – I would have posted the original but it’s in Scots and who the bloody hell can understand the Scots. Ok, I can but it’s all mostly bullshit that comes out of their mouths anyway. (Ducks and hides from the approaching lynch mob). Did I mention I’m Scots by blood?

And now back to our regularly scheduled program: the point of the quote.

I have been hemming and hawing for weeks now if I will blog about my New Year’s resolutions. It’s been a big old question mark in my mind. I really don’t know why, but hey, you have to listen to yourself every now and again. So I listened and decided to do a general list of resolutions -- which truly are more like guiding principles. Resolutions, in my opinion, often end up as just more sad excuses for failure and frustration. I mean, come on – who hasn’t made New Year’s resolutions with great gusto and planning in an attempt to make a dramatic change in their life before the stroke of midnight on the 31st? Heck, I don’t think it’s possible to NOT make resolutions for fear of being ostracized and/or lynched. And since I already have a mob after me from the above Scottish comments, I’d best behave. It is with very mixed feelings that I write my resolutions (long before the stroke of midnight!).

Resolutions, in no particular order:

Lose weight. Duh.
Ha. Isn’t that the number one goal on everyone’s list. Okay, I was watching tv the other day and saw a commercial for Jenny Craig – wait, wait! Stop throwing things at the screen and booing! I’m not saying join Jenny Craig. I just liked the message of the commercial. So, bear (or is that bare?yikes, that might lead to nudity! so let's go with the first one) with me! On the commercial, Valerie Bertinelli was saying that she was 3 pounds away from goal and how happy she was that she wasn’t going to have to wake up on New Year’s and make a resolution to lose weight. It just sort of hit me that wow, this time next year, I can be saying the same thing. I won’t have to wake up on New Year’s day and say that clichéd phrase “This year I resolve to lose…”. Heck, I don’t remember a year when I haven’t had to make a resolution about losing weight. Wow, you mean I don’t have to spend the rest of my life being fat? Now that is a novel concept. Sure, I’m not a moron and I know that I’m going to struggle with this forever – but I also know that it doesn’t always have to be at the top of my resolutions list. So, lose weight. Yup. This is the last year I’m going to have this as a resolution.

De-clutter.
I’m a book-a-holic people. Letting go of books is like prying teeth out of my mouth with pliers – painful and messy. I can’t let go of them. They are my babies. Oh god, there has to be a support group for this! I have a tiny house and need to find some ways to live more efficiently. De-cluttering is a huge resolution for the year! Oh and that pile on my desk at work...and the boxes in the garage...and the disaster that is my pantry...and the files...and, oh you get the point!

Get Fit.
Okay, so I’ve been working on this one for awhile. And right now, I’m not going to put down any of my fitness goals, frankly – I don’t have any specific exercise goals at the moment. But I am going to continue on my road of fitness and health in this shiny New Year. I want to run faster and further than I have before. How's that for specific?

Be open to love and other good things the universe has to offer.
Alright, so it sounds sort of silly. Sometimes I feel like my life is like that quote “The truth knocks on the door and you say, 'Go away, I'm looking for the truth.' and so it goes away.” Sometimes I think the universe brings us things that we ignore. Love seems to be one of those things that shows up when you least expect it. And so this year, I resolve to be open to what the universe has to offer me.

Breathe.
That one seems like a given, but sometimes I forget to just breathe and just relax. That’s when I fall off the wagon too – those stressed out frantic times when life just gets the better of me. So my resolution this year is to remember to breathe.

Comment more.
Yeah, on blogs that I read and love. Sometimes I get sooooo into what I read or end up reading it at times when I can’t comment (like, um oops, work), and I forget to go back and comment.

And that concludes my list of resolutions.

Not too specific, but goals none-the-less. And yes, before you send me links to goal writing 101 sites and copies of Goal Writing for Dummies, I know that these are not well written. They are my living guidelines for the next year. Principles I want to live by and with in the New Year. These are not necessarily meant to be specific steps in any direction. But guiding lights…..

So there. I did it. Now I’m going to go eat fried fish with the family. Yeah, I know. Not a peep, oh faithful reading audience.

Lots of love,
FGS