I’m not opposed to resolutions, I make them all year long. I make one nearly every day. For me, it’s the desire to start something on a number I like. If I wake up at 6:36am, I will resolve to get out of bed by 7:00am. If I miss and I realize it’s now 7:02am? Better wait until 7:15am. If it’s a Wednesday, I’ll resolve to start fresh on Monday, because Monday will be the perfect day to start that new project, start going to the gym again, swim at least 3 times a week.
January 1st is typically not a great day for me to start a new resolution, especially if it falls on a Tuesday and I don’t wake up until 7:48am. Starting something new at 8:00am feels rushed, and anything later than that and it feels like maybe, it would be best to put off until tomorrow.
Last year, at some point in January, I resolved to read a book before bed instead of looking at my phone. I checked out some books from the library on a Monday and started that night. I’ve kept that one. I tried to add in an extra book by reading during breakfast but found reading two different books in the same day jumbled my brain a bit and abandoned it. Sometimes I read the book I was reading before bed at breakfast, but more often I stare out the window at the tree looking for squirrels. (The don’t usually make an appearance until noon.)
On May 1st (which was a Tuesday, interesting!) I started writing in a journal, but I gave myself very specific rules. I wouldn’t try to make it interesting, I wouldn’t worry about my handwriting, I would write only as much as I wanted to write, I would try to write in it every night, but if I messed up it was ok to write about the day I missed later. Once I stopped writing in it for six days, but I sat down on the 7th and wrote everything I still remembered about the previous six. When I travel, I take along a smaller journal, but I find I mostly recap the trip when I get back. I have an entry for every single day since May 1st, 246 days, which is the longest streak I’ve ever had for keeping a journal.
This year I’ve resolved to knit a sweater and to learn the cable stitch. I’d also like to get at least one thing published, just one. That’s a tricky resolution because all wrapped up in that one is the idea that I need to send out submissions and pitches. It means the real resolution is to write enough and submit enough that eventually I get a yes. It means I’m looking for a lot of rejections. I don’t like getting rejections but I know if I want to succeed I’m going to need to receive a whole lot of them.
Logan M. Shannon 