Starting The Journey

Resolutions are something that are in or out depending on the year and who wrote the Washington Post In/Out list.  We make them because the end of the year is the right time to evaluate our lives and what we’ve done (or not done) with the previous year(s).  We make them because the beginning of the year is the beginning of the rest of our lives and it’s a good time to change things.  Certainly, EVERY moment is the beginning of the rest of our life, but doesn’t it just feel that way more on 01/01?

I’m not sure when it started, but New Year’s Resolutions started being the butt of jokes.  We joke about the diet that starts and fails, the health clubs that are joined and forgotten with their recurring monthly fees that we somehow can’t manage to get rid of, and the finances that never get under control.  In fact, people are so skeptical about resolutions, that most articles actually seem to be about the pride people take in NOT making any.

There are also plenty of articles telling you how to make a resolution that you will keep, and the pitfalls of incorrect resolution statements.  We all know not to make general resolutions; instead, make one that is concrete and measurable.  Tell other people what our resolutions are so that we will be accountable. (But stay away from judging, right?  Even if that isn’t really compatible with telling other people and being accountable.)

A few years ago I made a resolution about getting more fit.  It wasn’t about losing weight, which I really needed to do, because I knew that focusing on my weight would stress me out, and I’d end up doing some emotional eating and pull the rug out from under my own feet.  Fitness is a much healthier goal for me, and it’s achievable without the assurances from some number that I have succeeded or failed.  I knew myself enough when I made the resolution that I made the resolution for a 30 day period only.  I resolved to exercise and watch my health for 30 days.  It worked.  At the end of those 30 days, I renewed my resolution for another 30 days.  I did that again, and was doing well, when I got basically punched in the gut with a major complication from another health problem.  But that’s another issue.  I was doing really well on that renewable resolution.

This year I’m sort of throwing all the advice and learned counsel out the window.

I’m making a general resolution that will slowly evolve over the year.

I want to make my life better.  Sometime during the last year, I stopped saying “gee, I wish I’d started that five years ago.”  Instead, I ask myself “in five years, will I wish I had started that now?”  Because it’s always easy to say no to things that we feel behind on, but I need to learn to say yes to the things that I’ll regret not starting now, even if I am getting a late start.

So now, I want to get healthier, fitter, and more agile.  I want to learn things that might be a bit intimidating because I am stretching my comfort zone.  I want to take much better photographs and I want to be able to work with my computer to make them into art.  I want to get ready to travel in a few more years (money helps with that) and take beautiful photos and write contemplative essays.  And, I want to create a peaceful, soul-enhancing home where I feel good and can welcome my friends.  (This is not so easy for me – I am the Queen of Chaos and Clutter.)

All of those things intertwine.  Without better fitness, I won’t be hiking in Utah, touring castles in England or tasting Port in Portugal.  Without working on my photography skills now, I won’t be able to know whether to adjust aperture or shutter speed when I take photos in those places.  And without a nurturing home, I won’t be able to have a place to launch all those things I want to do.

But it’s not all about five years from now.  If so, well, that would be a bit sad because I’d be missing out on now.  It’s about the journey of where I’m going with myself.  The journey excites me as much or more than the destination.  Learning and doing have joy just by themselves.  That is why I believe I’ll be successful.  When the journey is this fun, it’s like traveling the rainbow to get to the pot of gold – rainbows are beautiful all by themselves, even if you never get the pot of gold at the end.