Wait!!!
I still have Christmas cookies on my counter. How can I make a a successful resolution for the new year with Christmas cookies still taunting me? At this point, I can’t even regift the cookies, so I must persevere and eat two Hungarian Butterhorns (my grandparents’ recipe has many names) a night while watching the television until they are completely gone.
It’s sacrilegious to throw them out. The time and effort alone that went into making those little guys in the midst of my refrigerator and freezer going out weeks before Christmas should be honored (as per Murphy’s law—it got fixed after Christmas).
Let’s be honest. (Have I told you how much I hate that phrase? I rather think the phrase is better worded let’s be intimate). So, let’s be intimate for a second, even if you know me, don’t know me, or think you know me.
I don’t make new year’s resolutions
I don’t make resolutions at the turn of the new year, never have. If I claim I will resolve something, I want to come through. And a grand resolution feels like a setup for failure. I’m stating I know what the outcome will be and how to get there. Gosh—that is so very BIG! It seems so monumental and overboard significant.
Because I’m introspective in nature—I see areas to improve myself around every corner—ways to improve physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I can and have overwhelmed myself by setting ambitious goals and timetables, with the idea attaining them meant success, (most often set by me, myself, and I). That has caused much imbalance and stinkin’ thinkin’ in my life. I’m learning to not be so demanding of myself (I’m a slow learner). I have all the patience and wisdom for the people in my life (and it’s spiritually and emotionally sound), but often the demands I make of myself are unyielding. God has a plan for success for even this little one (me).
I know I would singularly work until I conquered the resolution instead of live and breathe grace to myself through the process. I remind myself (more often than I want to) to live with that mindset—to live in the moment, expectant, but mindful there will always be the unknowns and the unexplainable and necessity for alterations (and I don’t even sew 😊).
My goals (yes, I call them hopes, wishes, and dreams) rise to the top like cream (Hey, that’s where the delicious and vitamins A&D are found). I’m not going to beat myself up as having failed if things go awry. The attempt…the change…the long-haul journey. This is a fluid pursuit. Some are a wish and not a determined push. Some are a prayer and will never be relegated to a wish.
What are they right now you ask?
Here a few of my hopes, dreams, and wishes for 2023:
- I did a reading of a few pages of chapter 1 in Man in the Mist. This was my early January goal. It starts with Raey making a new year decision. I really had to get over the vulnerability of hearing my voice and seeing myself on video when I hit submit to social media. Check it out below.
- I’d like to live in warmer weather during the winter. (I’m leaving for AL in a few weeks so check out my sand and beach pics on social media).
- Finish the draft, edit the draft, (and dare I say publish) my work-in-progress (It’s untitled right now).
- I want to read every book by Julia Quinn (You might know her as the author of the Bridgerton series). I’m currently obsessed with her dialogue. There’s not enough time in the day to read, so I’m stealing sleep time. Yikes.
- I want to hop over the pond to the UK (my travel books are on the table). I need every secret anyone knows about Ireland, N. Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales (and we want to add Normandy, France). Wolters World and Rick Steves offer great advice. Revising the itinerary we had set in 2019 before covid had us scrambling to get our money back.
- I want to see my first novel in more readers’ hands, libraries, and bookstores (Will you request your library and bookstores shelf it? Thanks for chatting it up with your reader friends).
- I want hats to look good on me (This has been a longtime wish).
- I want to be a minimalist, collect less things and adventure more. Adventures have unknown outcomes (I suppose that’s why I like travel — the people you meet and places you never knew existed).
- I love quotes and have a miserable way of keeping them. (This is supposed to be a daily gratitude journal, but maybe, just maybe, it’s a quote gratitude journal?)
- I don’t want my goals to become selfish ambitions.
May you be blessed on your path to “success” in 2023 (see the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson).
Thanks for your support on this writing journey.
Slàinte Mhath,
Cherie
