Resolutions for the New Year

This year has been an awesome year.  I cavorted with whale sharks, accepted a marriage proposal and ate some really good steak. This year, I also turned my pee a lurid shade of neon yellow. 

It happened because I began popping ‘Executive Stress Formula’ vitamin B pills six times a day, far exceeding the recommended dosage.  I also gulped spoonfuls of zinc to ‘boost’ my immune system because I fell sick more often and was perpetually exhausted.

This year, I couldn’t refuse invitations for fear of disappointing people and missing out on fun.  I rushed from one engagement to another, firing questions at the birthday girl with my eye on the kitchen clock and racing across town to skol a drink before the bar closed.  At work, I smiled and accepted new files even though I was drowning in deadlines.  I was always running late.  New spots appeared on my carpet where I dripped drool-infested toothpaste because I was attempting to multitask by brushing my teeth while ironing a skirt. 

The highlights of the year happened when I wasn’t trying to do more than one thing or be in several places at once.  I spent an afternoon reading Martha Stewart magazines on a friend’s couch as day turned to dusk and I heard her dicing tomatoes for our dinner.  On another day, I smeared molten camembert onto crackers in a friend’s courtyard while the morning shadows of the trees shrank and the air grew warm.

Next year, my catchphrase will be ‘Say ‘No’ and Simplify’.  In 2013, I will:

1.    Decline invitations for things I don’t want to go to.  I will not line up appointments back to back because my friends deserve the most attentive, relaxed version of myself.

2.    Stop weighing myself every day because the blinking number on the bathroom scales doesn’t measure contentment.  I will sometimes sleep in past 5am and miss my run.

3.    Delete Facebook from my iPhone – it doesn’t matter what everybody else is doing every minute of the day or what their latest meal looked like.

4.    Write every day, even if I can only manage ten minutes of nonsensical rambling.  

5.    Do one thing at a time and enjoy it – no more roaming around the house with a toothbrush hanging out of my mouth or eating dinner standing up.  I want to be present, wherever I am.

6.    Worry less because worrying is self-centred and unproductive.  I’ll meditate with the ancient nuns again and breathe deeply when I want to hyperventilate.   

7.    Do more for others, which I might be more open to if I’m fretting less about myself.

I’m not sure about how well I’ll stick to these New Year’s resolutions but I’m going to give them a red-hot go.  Happy New Year, friends!