Be It Hereby Resolved…
“Begin as you mean to go on, and go on as you began…”
― Charles Spurgeon
It’s rare that I make resolutions that involve great personal change, and this year is no exception. My resolutions are involve things like, “Do more of this, less of that, and wouldn’t it be good to take steps to accomplish this thing?” For me, to make a “resolution” is to focus, with serious intent, on the goals I’d like to achieve in the coming year. They are always subject to review, reshuffling of priorities, and removal. So to say that I did or did not “keep” a resolution is nothing – it says only that it turned out not to be as important as it seemed, or that something else more important took its place. This is not failure. This is reality.
While I don’t believe in “manifesting intent,” I do believe in this:
“Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initative or creation, there is one elementary truth…that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves. too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would otherwise never have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in ones’s favor all manner of incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man would have believed would have come his way.
Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace, and power in it.”
―
In other words, you don’t just sit around thinking about the goal. You commit to it. You focus your mind and your efforts towards achieving the thing – whatever the thing is. Making resolutions is just the first step. For me, I suppose, it’s better than meditation for achieving clarity. I begin to write ideas – and discard those ideas that sounded merely interesting, but don’t energize me to commit to action. Once the compelling ideas are winnowed from the passing fancies, I list the steps I know it will take to achieve…what? Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound “SMART” goals.
I got a head start on a few of my goals, even before the end of 2023. I don’t count them towards 2023, though I suppose an upcoming release of my poem, “Tornado Alley,” in the Behind the Rain Anthology podcast qualifies for all of the above: stepping outside my comfort zone (spoken word poetry, audio recording); submitting poetry for publication (as opposed to simply posting it online or shoving it in a drawer); getting poetry published (it was accepted, and will be released on January 15, 2024). I breezed through Levels 1 and half of 2 in Duolingo German. I’ve read – real books, not Facebook posts, every night.
Many of my goals are small, personal goals. Among them, to be a better listener. To reach my goal weight. To write real, “snail mail” letters to my grandson. To submit writing weekly to a contest or publication. To write a poem daily (see, The Stafford Challenge) and complete a book-length manuscript of poetry. To travel (please, world, settle down and embrace peace)! To contribute to and publish an anthology with Pen & Keyboard Writers (last year’s goal was to get a new category added, for anthologies, to the annual OWFI contest – that happened, so again, head start). To be accepted to attend, again, the Summer Writers Institute at the University of St. Thomas. Add this: To focus on building this blog, free for readers, that I pay for out of my own pocket, rather than generating “free content” for someone else’s for-profit social media platforms. Lookin’ at you, Facebook, and you, Substack.
A few of my goals, like The Stafford Challenge and 52 Weeks Photography Challenge 2024 – Improve Your Photography! (kevmrc.com), are, in and of themselves, just interesting. But they serve a larger goal of consistently engaging in small acts of creativity and learning, every day, all year. To build a habit. A discipline. A practice of practicing. Because it’s astonishingly easy to fall out of such habits – even if we identify as “a creative person” or “a fit and healthy person” or “an avid reader.” The person seeking to lose weight may, in fact, not care so very much about the extra pounds – what’s the real objective? Is “lose 10 pounds” a goal or a step towards something altogether different? Perhaps the real goal is to live long enough to finish a portrait painting, or to be fit enough to keep up with a toddler, or to feel beautiful in a wedding dress.
I see no point in resolutions that involve somehow torturing, depriving, restricting, or punishing ourselves. Resolutions, if we make them, should be things we truly want to work towards. Things that bring us joy. I’ve hinted at a few of mine. What are yours?
Good luck with your goals – may you have a great year.
My attitude is simple: I already do far more than I should, and more than I can even aspire to – as a chronically ill person. My single goal is to finally get to finishing the plotting of Pride’s Children: LIMBO, so I can get to the final writing of each scene, and finish the thing. I was forced to deal with paperwork and physical problems in 2022 and 2023 (still managed to publish NETHERWORLD in 2022 right before critical surgery which I fortunately survived) – it will be less stressful, I hope. Writing isn’t stressful after the plotting is locked in (almost there, now that I can focus on it again).
But the things people take for granted – making resolutions, changing themselves, planning – all are impossibilities. So I DON’T WORRY about them. That would waste even more energy.
Compared to clambering up mountains, don’t trip on molehills.
My friend sent me her novel to read – she’s been working on it for 5+ years, but I think got more written while in the hospital with COVID and since then, tethered to oxygen, than in the previous years combined. Illness usually saps me of ideas and energy, but I do think that it can add a certain sense of urgency, as well. I used to ask my mom and other friends who suffered migraines regularly, how they functions at all. I’ve had 4, and couldn’t. But I got the same answer from all: you just put one for in front of the other and keep moving. You HAVE TO. I’m glad you’re getting so much accomplished, Alicia.
Your reflections on resolutions are refreshingly pragmatic and deeply resonant. I admire the way you embrace the fluidity of goals, acknowledging that they evolve as we do. Your perspective on committing to action and focusing on joy and growth rather than restriction is a lesson in mindfulness and self-compassion. It’s a reminder that the journey toward our goals is just as important as the destination. Keep inspiring and sharing your light!
Thanks, John! I think goals are meant to serve us, not the other way around. Happy New Year!
Holly, I love this! It is so thoughtful, and the idea of goals being a step toward something and not an ultimate destination in itself is so spot on. I had to laugh when I read that a snail mail to your grandson is one of your goals. I get it, and I also thought, “Look at what we’ve become.”
Mostly, though, I am impressed at the range of activities you take on, and I believe with some demonstrated success (not that you care because I suspect the experience itself is how you would measure success). You are a good one to keep track of if I can move fast enough to track you. And who knows… you just might have inspired me to try and write a poem or two this year. Stay tuned. happy 2024!
Thank you, Jill! I posted a thing today on Facebook that talks about personal growth in terms of plants – we’re not all meant to grow straight upwards like a pine tree. Some of us grow deep roots that are hard to pull up; some spread ourselves out and grow so many roots that we’re hard to get rid of. Something like that. The point being, we don’t all have to measure success by someone else’s yardstick. We don’t all have to want to “climb the ladder of success.” (Especially when it’s someone else’s ladder and we’re just pushing them up but not really achieving our own dreams. I love to help others, but I don’t love being their stepping stone.) You’re so right that I measure my own “success” differently – not so much by “achievement” as by “fulfillment” and happiness. The older I get, the more cognizant I am of how little time a lifetime is, and the fact that we only get one – that we can be 100% sure of, regardless of our hopes and beliefs. We should strive to be happy and to make those around us happy (or at least a little less unhappy!). That’s pretty much IT.
100%
You nailed it and cited one of the few good things about getting older
Congratulations on the upcoming release of your poem, Holly. I like the way you have set your goals to bring small and effective changes in your daily actions.
Thank you, Vinitha! I’m a bit nervous about it, but I’m excited, too. Good start to the new year! Little steps tend to be the only way to achieve big goals. The old, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
This is probably the first time in over a decade where I decided that I wasn’t making any plans, resolutions, or anything else for the new year except one big thing; generating enough income so I can have some peace in my life. The “how” might seem suspect, but that’s because I realized looking back through the years that I haven’t accomplished almost anything I wrote down as a specific goal, so I’m thinking a general goal might produce more options long term. If not, then it goes into the pile of unresolved fake promises I made to myself over the years, which puts me back into the Popeye class: “I yam what I yam”.
Mitchell, we’ve all got that big pile, but now I have Popeye to refer to so thanks.
I am going to announce at dinner tonight, “I yam what I yam” but only my husband will get it.
You should make yams for dinner!
I don’t know how to make yams; I wish I did, like Mom used to make them. Then again, they were pretty sweet, and I think that would probably kill me these days… which I wouldn’t mind. 🙂
Funny!
LOL, glad to be inspiring!
I play to my audience lol
Just figure out what steps you need to take to make it happen, Mitchell. You know what they are, I think. It’s disheartening to think that your potential clients are out there paying the big bucks to consulting firms that have less understanding and expertise regarding how to make THEIR goals happen, but if conversations I had over the holidays with people who ought to know are any indication, it’s flash over form out there. Maybe you need to get in on the flash, distasteful as that may be.
“Flash” isn’t a part of my life unless I have a reason to do it, which usually would come after I’ve done something worthy. But no biggie; maybe this will be the year that things change because I’ve changed my yearly norm. We shall see.
Is this on? 🤣 It’s working! Yeah, I hate WordPress/Jetpack weirdness.
Absolutely. Just have to do two mic checks, and once passed, you’re golden. Thanks, Nat!
The mic checks. Now is my chance.
There you go! 🙂 Now you’re one of the in-crowd, here. Good luck ever getting out, Nat.
This is a great post. This year I am only setting goals for one quarter at a time; because I realise I work best when I have deadlines. I actually thrive rather than get stressed out. I am adding some fun goals too, like learning a new song every month – the lyrics, not the tune. I love singing though I can’t sing to save my life. Another thing is I want to learn Telegu, which is the language they speak in Hyderabad, where both my daughters have their homes. This is essential as I will be visiting often and will need to argue with the autorickshaw drivers. 🙂
Terrific goals! You know, I do mine quarterly, too. More or less. Not necessarily ON a particular day, but roughly: Global new year, Nowruz (my birthday/son’s birthday/start of spring), summer solstice (my husband’s birthday, our wedding anniversary), Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year, fall, my daughter’s birthday). My other “new years”= new beginnings – as me, as a mom, as a wife.
I think you’ve found the key in making sure that your goals are things that bring you joy! There’s no point otherwise, is there? 😉
I think figuring this out should be the goal of everyone over 30. (I’d just say “everyone,” but I’m not sure you can figure it out until you know what doesn’t work, too, and how to take care of yourself even when you have to do some things that don’t bring you joy in order to achieve the ones that do.)
First of all, I LOVED the quote you shared, especially its last line, “…Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.” Such inspiring words, and precisely when I need to know I am on the right track! Thank you for sharing these words, Holly.
My goals are to take better care of my mental health and improve my art skills to gain the confidence I need.
I wish you the very best in completing your goals for 2024. I look forward to seeing your photographs. Will you share them on your IG handle? This challenge does seem interesting. 🙂
You are crushing it with the art, Shilpa! Your practice is paying off – I’ve been watching your skills grow for a while, now, and I am so impressed! I should share those photos, shouldn’t I? I’m off to a bit of an erratic start, but I’m not kicking myself for it – right now, it’s 18 degrees F outside and in the 60s inside – the view from the window is pretty, but not photo-worthy. And I am NOT venturing out! LOL
Fantastic, Holly! Enjoyed reading your post. I loved how you were so clear about setting specific goals and more so about how you intend to enjoy working towards them…they are all so wonderful, Holly and I especially love how you intend balancing the different realms of creativity, physical well-being, relationships and personal development. I think one of the things I’ve learnt about resolutions over the years is how we must show up every day even in the smallest of ways, to be consistent with our intentions/goals, so yes discipline is definitely key! I’m working towards aligning myself with all those lovely things that I set out to achieve over the past couple of years…Some that need working on a little more than the others. Will do a quarterly post to share how I’m showing up for each one of them. 🤞🤞
“Showing up,” I’ve found, is hard when it’s 17.6 degrees F outside and all you want to “show up” for is a warm blanket and a cup of coffee. THAT SAID, I’ve worked on Japanese and German daily in Duolingo, booked two trips (one to a state we’ve never visited, and one to Japan); had one poem published and The Stafford Challenge starts today; was named Webmaster and (probably) Councilor-at-Large for the Poetry Society of Texas; mostly stopped snacking myself to death (haven’t lost much weight, but haven’t gained); may walk in the park with a friend this afternoon IF the temperatures get up over 40 degrees as they’re forecasted to; sent a letter to my grandson (though it hasn’t arrived and this is not helping my postal avoidance disorder); so…yeah. Not that far off track! Now, if we were having coffee… okay, I AM having coffee. Care to join me?
Yes, I totally agree about “showing up” when it’s freezing out there, Holly! You’re seriously packing in so much…and it’s great for us because reading your post inspires me to push those boundaries as well.
As for coffee, I’m always up for it, Holly. :))
Oh, good! I could drink a pot of coffee at midnight and it won’t keep me awake, but the mug keeps my fingers warm. Nothing quite like the feel of a warm, ceramic mug in your cold hands. As for “packing in so much,” it’s always funny to me when I look back and tick off what I HAVE managed to accomplish (so thank you for reminding me, this morning, to do that!) Much of the time, I look like a total couch potato and I’m convinced certain people think I do nothing useful at all. I just never perfected (nor do I ever want to – def. not on my goals list) the art of LOOKING busy. And not being frenetically, physically active, I LOOK like a damned sloth half the time. 😉